TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The Southeastern Louisiana men's and women's cross country teams had their final tests before the Southland Conference Championships Friday at the Alabama Crimson Classic and head coach
Rocky Capello said he got a clearer picture of where they stand heading into the postseason.
The Southeastern men finished 21
st in the University Division with 542 points. Middle Tennessee State won with 110 points.
The Lady Lions were 28
th with 795 points. Georgia Tech took first with 74.
Freshman
Adam Cortez led the Lions with an 86
th-place finish in 26 minute, 9.8 seconds. Fellow freshman
Anthony Cordero was 105
th in 26:24.5. Also scoring for the Lions were junior
Brett Olivier (149
th, 27:02.9), freshman
Bryant White (155
th, 27:07.8) and sophomore
Grant O'Callaghan (180
th, 27:45.5). Freshman
Jonathan Respress was 206
th.
Freshman
Tara Stuntz finished 143
rd in 23:07.4. She was followed by fellow freshmen
Sophie Daigle (174
th, 23:27.7),
Breanna Bernard (205
th, 24:00.9),
Lydia Pevey (266
th) and
Lindsey Hutcheson (272
nd).
MEET NOTES
Middle Tennessee State's Jacob Choge nipped Alabama's Vincent Kiprop, 23:22.3-23:26.4, for the men's individual title.
Marta Freitas, running unattached, won the women's title in 19:53.0. Auburn's Brenda Kigen was second in 20:23.4.
There were 29 teams and 254 runners in the men's 8K and 31 teams and 280 competitors in the women's 6K.
QUOTES
Southeastern head coach Rocky Capello:
On both teams' performances…
"I think we got to see what we were looking for, kind of where we stand against one of the top teams in our conference in Stephen F. Austin on the men's and women's side. I think we did well. It's the toughest course we've run this season and possibly the toughest course both of them have run in their life. We just don't get to see hills like we did today and certainly not the number they had to go through. I was pretty pleased with the way they ran. There were a lot of kids in the race so it was pretty congested. I thought we ran really well against some of the best teams in the country and some of the best runners in the country. I think it set us up going into the conference meet, giving us an idea of what we need to do to prepare for the conference meet in two weeks."
On preparing for the Southland Conference Championships…
"One race to go. Everything we've done so far is to get to that race. I feel like we know where we are going into that one and if we run our smartest race of the year at the conference meet, I think we will be happy with the result."
UP NEXT
Southeastern heads to Abilene, Texas on Friday, Oct. 27 for the 2017 Southland Conference Championships at the Abilene Christian University Cross Country Course.
