WACO, Tx.--The Louisiana Tech men\'s cross country team completed their 2006 season this Saturday at Baylor University, in Waco, Tx., at the NCAA South Central Regional Cross Country Championships. Tech finished 14th over-all, and according to their head coach, Gary Stanley, had an good outing against some of Texas, Arkansas and Louisiana\'s best schools.
"I was real proud of them today," Stanley said. "From top to bottom, I thought we raced extremely well today."
Louisiana Tech\'s finish placed them ahead of in-state schools Louisiana-Lafeyette and the University of Louisiana-Monroe, but LSU just edged Tech out, finishing 13th over-all. Arkansas won both the men\'s and women\'s championships today with Texas placing both of it\'s squads inside the Top 10 as well.
Shadrack Songok of Texas A&M—Corpus Christi finished 1st over-all for the men while Rachael Forish of Southern Methodist finished 1st for the women.
This last raced put a successful stamp, on an over-all successful season for Louisiana Tech. They finished 4th in the WAC Cross Country Championships, and had other outstanding outings through-out the season including a 3rd place over-all finish at the Auburn Invitational where they beat such big schools as Florida State, Miami, Auburn, Ole Miss and in-state rival, LSU.
"This season has been very encouraging," Stanley said. "The high point was of course Auburn. This was a very young squad though, and it took them some time to come back after that big performance. However, the guys ran hard today and I was very proud of the effort they put forth today."
Louisiana Tech finishers were led on the day by Junior sensation Zach Schuler who finished in 32 minutes and 7 seconds, earning him 40th place over-all. Sophomore Jace Benoit finished 51st in 32:24, while junior Kinsey Dinnel finished in 33:07 and 61st place. Wesley Wilson, a sophomore at Tech, finished 74th in a time of of 33:23. The lone senior on the team, Tim Marshall, completed his career at Louisiana Tech with a 76th place finish, in 33:30. Marshall had been hampered most of the season with a nagging injury, but stuck it out, helping the team accomplish much of the success they\'ve garnered this season. Junior Nate Davis rounded out the Tech finishers for the day, with an 88th place finish in 33:59.
Looking ahead to next season, Stanley feels this season has given them the needed momentum to carry into next year. Marshall was the only senior on this year\'s squad, so obviously, expectations for next season will be running very high.
"Four of our top five runners are underclassmen," Stanley said. "I\'m really looking forward to next year, and you can rest assured the future is very bright."