BRYAN-COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The LSU women’s cross-country team finished fourth overall at the NCAA South Central Regional Championship on Friday at the Dale Watts Cross Country Course. As a team, the Tigers improved on last year’s score with 110 points.
Continue her amazing season for the Tigers, senior Lorena Rangel Batres became just the fourth woman in LSU history to punch a ticket to the NCAA XC Championships. Rangel Batres qualified by finishing as one of the four-best runners on a non-auto qualifying team. The top-two teams to finish on Friday, Arkansas and Texas, earned auto-bids to the NCAA Championships.
Rangel Batres came in sixth overall as an individual on Friday with a time of 19:32.3, making it back-to-back meets with sub-20-minute 6k’s. This week’s time was just 1.8 seconds off of her PR of 19:30.5 from the SEC Championships. The sixth overall finish ties the second-highest finish ever for the Tigers at regionals, just behind Ella Chesnut’s fourth-place finish last year.
Second for the Tigers on Friday was Chesnut who is fresh off of making the NCAA Championships last season. The Houma, La., native clocked a new personal-best time of 19:47.7 to finish 12th overall, shaving almost 10 seconds off of her SEC Championship time from two weeks ago.
Senior Michaela Rose closed out the top three for LSU with her 16th-place finish and a time of 20:04.4. Rose was under 10 seconds off of her PR from the last meet of 19:55.2.
Closing out the scoring for the Tigers were Callie Hardy in 28th and Emerald Kehr in 48th. Hardy clocked a personal-best time of 20:21.1 in the fourth spot for LSU, while Kehr clocked a PR of 20:51.9 in the fifth spot.
The top-25 finishers from regional meets are recognized as All-Region members by USTFCCCA. The three Tigers to earn this honor were Rangel Batres, Chesnut and Rose. This marks the third-career regional honor for Rangel Batres and Rose, and the second regional honor for Chesnut.
The 2024 NCAA Cross Country Championship selection show will be Saturday, November 16th, at 4 p.m. CT live on NCAA.com. There will 13 at-large teams picked by the NCAA subcommittee, the Tigers hoping to be one of those few lucky teams.
Rangel Batres is scheduled to head to Madison, Wisc., by herself next week for the NCAA Championships on Saturday, November 23rd.
Results – NCAA South Central Regional Championship
Women’s Top-10 Team Scores
1. Arkansas – 80
2. Texas – 81
3. Tulane – 107
4. LSU – 110
5. SMU – 119
6. Texas A&M – 164
7. Lamar – 171
8. Rice – 252
9. Texas A&M CC – 361
10. Central Arkansas – 386
LSU Women’s 6k Times
6. Lorena Rangel Batres – 19:32.3 (6 pts)
12. Ella Chesnut – 19:47.7 (12 pts)
16. Michaela Rose – 20:04.4 (16 pts)
28. Callie Hardy – 20:21.1 (28 pts)
48. Emerald Kehr – 20:51.9 (48 pts)
64. Gwyneth Hughes – 21:09.5
76. Yuya Sawada – 21:20.8
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