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The Lion's Roar

The Official Student News Media of Southeastern Louisiana University

The Lion's Roar

The Official Student News Media of Southeastern Louisiana University

The Lion's Roar

    Cross country gains win over rival, LSU

    Freshman Adam Cortez has started his Lion career well  by placing in second place for the second straight meet. The Lions have now been ranked in the regionals at 14th for the first time since 2010.  Jonathan Rhodes/The Lion’s Roar

    The Lions cross country team was hoping to perform well in the LSU Invitational at Highland Road Community Park, and they did just that by finishing in first place in the men’s 6K run and fourth place in the women’s 5K run. This was the first time the Lions have finished in first place in a non-relay event since the Louisiana Army National Guard/ROTC Loyola Wolfpack Invitational in 2014. 

    The Lions beat conference rival McNeese State University by a slim margin of 41-43 and beat host Louisiana State University who finished in third place with 62 points.

    The performance was exactly what distance coach Rocky Capello believes this team is capable of.

    “The girls’ team killed it,” said Capello. “They ran the best race I have ever seen those individuals run. On the guy’s side, I had a feeling that we were going to, be able to win this meet. Tulane and McNeese are both ranked in regionals, but I’ve seen my guys workouts and they looked good for the last two weeks since the meet at UNO. I had a good feeling that we would have a good run against McNeese, and we did.”

    Capello hopes to see the Lions compete with McNeese for the Southland Conference Championships meet in Abilene, Texas on Oct. 27.

    “McNeese is probably the best team in the conference,” said Capello. “My prediction is that they will be favored to win conference this year. I know they will get better. This is not the best they have, but if we keep improving, then the conference meet is going to be exciting.”

    Freshman Adam Cortez finished in second place just like he did at his debut UNO Invitational. Cortez was named the Southland Conference Men’s Cross Country Athlete of the Week after his debut performance for the Lions.

    Behind Cortez, his teammate freshman Anthony Cordero finished in third place, and sophomore Grant O’Callaghan finished in fifth place.

    Cortez has a team-first mentality and wants to help the team more than succeed by himself.

    “Individually, it was good,” said Cortez. “You can’t complain with second place, but the real thing I’m proud of is the team. It doesn’t matter how good I do if our team isn’t good. We all came here to be the team to beat, and I think we are establishing that right now. We had three players in the top five. I don’t think that has ever happened in our school history. The team did absolutely amazing.”

    Cortez likes the future that the Lions are creating for themselves and that despite how young this team is, they are working hard to compete against the best in their conference and in their state.

    “For the past year, we have talked about beating McNeese in our first meet against them as a unit and establishing that culture,” said Cortez. “This is why we work. You don’t do all of those miles during the week to choke when it matters. This is just the beginning for us. I know that sounds cliché but it’s why we are here. We are here to win or at least to try to.”

    Capello has a passion for his players and to see them succeed at the early stages of their Lion careers. His influence on his team is seen in the effort that they put forward in the past two meets.

    “They kind of mimic their coach’s personality,” said cross country Head Coach Corey Mistretta. “He is really enthusiastic and loves doing this. He is an attorney by trade and does that full time while coaching with us part time. The kids even talk about that saying ‘Coach does not even do this for a living and loves it.’ So, they feed off of his excitement and enthusiasm. They train really well. When you train the way they do, good things will happen. It’s probably been 10 years since we beat LSU in a meet, so we’ll take that.”

    Freshman Tara Stuntz finished at ninth place, which is her second straight time placing in the top 10.

    “With our hard workouts this week, we really pulled it off,” said Stuntz. “We do flat courses and get some hills in, but this was one to push for us. This was the course that we ran when we were in high school, and running it backwards was quite a challenge for us.”

    The Lions’ next meet will be at the Texas A&M Invitational in College Station where they will see their previous head coach Sean Brady.

    “That’s going to be a huge test going to that meet,” said Mistretta. “I think the most exciting thing about it is that we will get to see coach Brady and spend some time with him, but the players will be motivated.”  

    Lions cross country players, left, freshman Logan Thibodeaux, distance coach Rocky Capello, sophomore Devyn Keith, junior Brett Oliver, sophomore Bryant White, sophomore Grant O’Callaghan, freshman Reed Callegan, freshman Anthony Cordero, freshman Adam Cortez and freshman Jonathan Respress celebrate winning the LSU Invitational for the first time in 10 years. Jonathan Rhodes/The Lion’s Roar

     

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