RUSTON -- Louisiana Tech's men's cross country team swept the top six places on an extremely difficult five-kilometer path at Lincoln Parish Park in Ruston, La.
The meet was scored as a double-dual style, and the Bulldogs scored 15 points to 45 against Centenary, Northwestern State and Louisiana College for a complete sweep.
"I was proud of the effort today," Tech head coach Gary Stanley said. "It was a hot day so normally runners would not put forth a lot of effort. I was proud of my boys for the effort they gave. We didn't have a lot of fast times. The first non-Tech person was over 29 minutes. This will help them face people that make a name of this. To go one through six as we did, I was very pleased."
Leading the way for the Bulldogs was sophomore Zach Schuler with a time of 26 minutes and 43 seconds. Senior Tim Marshall came in second at 27:27 while sophomore Jace Benoit finished third at 28:06. Junior Kinsey Dinnel took fourth at 28:19 and sophomore Wesley Wilson finished fifth with a time of 28:28. Rounding out for the Bulldogs was junior Nate Davis with a time of 28:53.
The Louisiana Tech women's cross country team didn't quite match their counter part on the day, but did post some solid numbers. They had three runners finish in the top ten, and another two runners in the top fifteen. Senior Latonia Wilson led all Tech participants, finishing fourth over-all with a time of 23 minutes and 3 seconds. Fellow senior, Nina Gilbert finished the race in an even 25 minutes, good for ninth place. Sophomore El Charrita Reynolds rounded out the top 10 with a time of 25:00. Newcomer Kamillia Story finished in 11th place with a time of 25:12, and Senior Krystal Cole rounded out the Tech finishers in 14th place with a time of 26:25.
The course at Lincoln Parish Park in Ruston is one of the toughest around, and Coach Stanley plans on making it into an even better venue in the future. "I truly believe we can have a fabulous facility here. A colleague of mine and I plan on working on this course, and the hopes are that we'll be able to put together a course that will become known as one of the best in the South. There is nothing like it here in Louisiana."