The Book: TrackFieldXC 2005-06

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Here is my question:

Is the new floor at EKL going to be dedicated for VB or BB season?

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When Hurricane Wilma swept across south Florida on Monday, it forced the Sun Belt Conference to change its plans to hold the conference cross country championships in Miami on Friday. A hurried conference call was held on Tuesday during which the league opted to switch the meeet to Bowling Green, Ky., with Western Kentucky as the host school. Also, the competition will be held on Saturday instead of Friday. For the defending men's team champion Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns, as well as the Cajun women, it meant a day of scrambling. "We're hunting for plane tickets right now," said UL track and field coach Lance Veazey, who will accompany distance coach Tim Lemaire, 7 men and 7 women on the trip. "It's a little hilly, compared to the course we would have run on in Miami, and obviously the weather is a little different. But they have no electricity or water in Miami right now, so the conference is trying to make the best of what we've got." The low temperature in Bowling Green Tuesday morning was 33 degrees, with an afternoon high in the mid-50's. Miami, meanwhile, had lows in the upper 50's and highs in the 70's. "The course is more hilly, but we've run there twice before," said senior Justin Lemaire, an All-Sun Belt finisher a year ago. "The cooler weather will be nice. I'm hoping for some fast times." The rest of the story Bruce Brown bbrown@theadvertiser.com

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The Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns already knew it would be a tall task to repeat as Sun Belt Conference cross country champions. After all, it had been 30 years since the school's last league title when UL's men were crowned last fall. Then came Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, which disrupted the Cajuns' fall schedule. Then Hurricane Wilma this week, which ripped south Florida and forced the conference to move Saturday's Aeropostale Sun Belt Championships from Miami to Bowling Green. It's just another chapter in a strange semester for coach Tim Lemaire's 14-runner squad, which leaves Friday for the meet hosted by Western Kentucky. "We'll be ready," D.J. Hebert said. "We'll do fine. Coach Tim thinks we have a pretty good shot. We won't be in the back. We'll be in the hunt. If we all show up, we'll do all right." "Everybody wants to go again and repeat," said Kaplan's Justin Lemaire, an all-conference performer in 2004. "But, with the hurricanes it's been hard to prepare." "I really don't know how we'll place," Tim Lemaire said. "We're not in racing shape. "The course is not any tougher than our (Acadiana Park) course. If you run it the right way, you can run real fast. It depends on how you go into it, and if you run the right way mentally. The rest of the story Bruce Brown bbrown@theadvertiser.com

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BOWLING GREEN, Ky.- The University of Louisiana Ragin Cajun and Lady Cajuns Cross Country teams both finished in 10th place Saturday, at the Aeropostale Sun Belt Conference cross country championships, in Bowling Green, Ky. Host WKU claimed the title on the men’s side, while Arkansas-Little Rock took home the women’s crown. In the men’s 8k run, senior Justin Lemaire finished with a time of 27:03.60. D.J. Hebert finished with a time of 27:31.21 and Joshua Falgout finished at 28:23.88. For the women, sophomore Jasmine Collins finished at 19:29.31. Jennifer Gautreaux ran a time of 20:04.39 and Casey Brown finished at 20:13.29 The Ragin’ Cajuns will now look forward to their indoor track season, which will begin January 14, 2006, at the LSU Purple Tiger Invitational. LOUISIANA SI

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ATLANTA - Since Robert Lee took over the helm of the Louisiana Ragin' Cajun men's basketball team prior to last season, the Cajuns have never lost more than two straight games. That bit of history will be put to the test tonight when the Cajuns (0-2) try for the third time for their first victory of the season. They'll meet Georgia State's Panthers (1-1) tonight at 6 p.m. (CST) at the GSU Sports Arena, seeking to avoid the program's first 0-3 start since 1996-97. The first two losses weren't exactly upsets, with UL falling on the road to Southern Illinois (47-65) and Tennessee (76-83). The Cajuns play a third straight road game tonight, and this opponent's no slouch, either. GSU dropped a narrow 73-68 home decision to highly-regarded Charlotte - UL's opponent for its Saturday home opener at Blackham Coliseum - on Saturday after a runaway win over Delaware last Tuesday in their debut as a Colonial Athletic Association member. The teams played two games last year with each winning on their home floors, and they're continuing what has become a rarity in college basketball with a second straight home-and-home series this year. GSU will play the Cajuns Jan. 2 in the final game in Blackham before UL's scheduled return to the Cajundome for its Sun Belt Conference home opener Jan. 12 against South Alabama. Lee is hoping that his team makes as much improvement tonight as it did between its first and second games. After a blowout loss at SIU, UL rallied from as much as a 21-point deficit against the Volunteers and took the lead twice in the final five minutes before unbeaten UT rallied. The rest of the story Dan McDonald dmcdonald@theadvertiser.com

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Lance Veazey has been busy on his cell phone lately, rounding up his Louisiana Ragin' Cajun men and women as they prepare to open the indoor track and field season at LSU's Purple Tiger Invitational on Saturday at the Maddox Field House. That first meet has an added touch this year since UL students don't begin classes for the spring semester until Jan. 17. And since many of the Cajuns' squad members are newcomers, it has added a bit of scrambling to the mix. "This is the first time we've had a meet before school starts," Veazey said. "I've been getting out uniforms, calling kids, telling them to get their shoes, checking to make sure they know when to show up. "It's a learning experience." The rest of the story Bruce Brown bbrown@theadvertiser.com

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Ragin' Cajun athletes named to the select team include: Lawrence Willis, 2002-2004 Ndabe Mdhlongwa, 1993-96 Graddy Labbe, 1991-92, '94 Henry Brooks, 1991-92 Larry Moore, 1991-92 Lady Cajun athletes named to the select team include: Twilet Malcolm, 1991 & 1993 Kiesha Owens, 1992-94, '96 Beverley Langley, 1996-99 Cecilia Noel, 1997-99 The rest of the story

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BATON ROUGE - Philip Guidry posted a runner-up finish to highlight participation for the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns in LSU's Purple Tiger Invitational indoor track and field meet Saturday at the Carl Maddox Field House. Guidry placed second in the men's one mile in a time of 4:41.02, bested only by Grambling's Winston Sims (4:38.60). The rest of the story Bruce Brown bbrown@theadvertiser.com

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BATON ROUGE - The last time most fans of the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns saw Kyle Ward, he was returning an interception 53 yards for a touchdown in Louisiana's football season finale at UL Monroe. The runback evened the score at 7-7 and sent the Cajuns on their way to a 54-21 victory that clinched a share of the Sun Belt Conference championship. Since that season ended, Ward has turned his attention to the indoor track and field campaign, with similar eye-catching results. He was looking to break the 8-second mark in the 60-meter hurdles when the Cajuns opened the season at the Jan. 14 Purple Tiger Invitational at LSU. The 6-foot-3, 190-pounder settled for a third-place 8.10 clocking, but that was still a career best performance. "I wanted to be under 8-flat for that first meet," Ward said. "But I got out really bad without block work. In the preliminaries, I hit the first hurdle really hard. My legs are strong, so I didn't stumble, but it still decreased my speed. "Running from behind when everybody's good is hard." Ward spent the Christmas break working on strengthening his legs, includiing pulling a sled uphill. The rest of the story Bruce Brown bbrown@theadvertiser.com

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LAFAYETTE- Louisiana’s Ragin’ Cajuns track and field teams competed in the Bayou Bengal Invitational Friday, in Baton Rouge. For the Ragin Cajuns, freshman Michael Istre finished second in the 200-meter dash with a time of 22.54. He also finished fourteenth in the 60-meter dash, at 7.02. Luke Moody ran a personal best in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.28. In the field events sophomore Ben Leonards placed eleventh in the shot put with a throw of 44-06.75. For the Lady Cajuns, freshman Toni Lee placed fourth in the triple jump with a mark of 37-11.25. Lee also finished eleventh in the long jump, at 17-10.75. Sophomore Latoya Celestine finished two slots behind Lee in the triple jump with a mark of 37-06.00, earning her sixth place. Michelle Sonnier placed eleventh in the shot put with a throw of 37-09.50. Freshman Kelli Hebert finished seventh in the pole vault with a mark of 10-04.00. In the running events Jasmine Collins and Leah Legere finished eleventh and twelth, respectively in the 800-meter run. Collins ran a tie of 2:26.89 and Legere finished at 2:29.51. The Cajuns’ will return to action Saturday, Feb. 4, when they travel to Houston, Texas to compete in the Houston Invitational. LOUISIANA SI

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The Louisiana Ragin' Cajun men and women recorded nine top 10 finishes at the Bayou Bengal Invitational late Friday night at LSU's Carl Maddox Field House. In UL's second visit of the indoor track and field season to LSU, Michael Istre posted the best performance with his runner-up showing in the 200-meter dash. Istre's time of 22.54 was bested only by the 22.50 of Stephen F. Austin's Johnny Thacker. The next best effort for the Cajun men was Luke Moody's fourth-place 8.28 time in the 60-meter hurdles. Teammate Kyle Ward false started in that race. Also for the men, Justin Lemaire placed eighth in the 3,000-meter run in a time of 9:17.76. The rest of the story Bruce Brown bbrown@theadvertiser.com

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LOUISIANA La. - Louisiana’s Ragin’ Cajuns track and field teams will compete in their final indoor meet of the regular season Friday, at the LSU Twilight Invitational, in Baton Rouge. Events will begin at 3 p.m. at the Maddox Field House. UL will try to get back into the swing of things, after a 13-day layoff. “We just want to prepare for the Sun Belt Conference Championships next week,” said Head Coach Lance Veazey. “Hopefully this meet will get us ready for that and I am also trying to keep everyone healthy for next week.” In their last meet at the Houston Invitational, Cajuns sprinter Kyle Ward ran a personal best time in the 60-meter hurdles. Ward finished third in the event with a time of 7.96. “We are hoping that Kyle can reach a qualifying time in the 60-meter hurdles,” Veazey added. “He has been really close this year and it would be good to see him reach that goal.” Suzanne Boudreaux placed fourth in the 5000-meter run in Houston, with a time of 20:04.72, which represents her best time this season in that event. Up next for the Ragin’ Cajuns is the Sun Belt Conference Championships, which will be in Murfreesboro, Tenn., February 25-26. LOUISIANA SI

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Luke Moody provides a good indication of how young the University of Louisiana's delegation will be at this weekend's Sun Belt Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships. UL coach Lance Veazey points to Rayne product Moody, just a sophomore, as one of the team leaders. "It just kind of worked out that way," said Moody, who will run the hurdles and high jump at the league meet Saturday and Sunday in Murfreesboro, Tenn. "We needed someone to lead drills and nobody really stepped forward to take charge of stretching." The women's team had an experienced leader, with Andree Bonvillain back for her fourth year as the top pole vaulter in the Cajun program's history. "It's different this year," Bonvillain said. "I'm kind of one of the older ones out here now." Graduation hit the UL track program heavily last year. That's a good thing for graduation rates and for fulfilling the ultimate goal of the university and the athletic program, but it also left the Cajuns with its youngest track team in years. The rest of the story Dan McDonald dmcdonald@theadvertiser.com

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The track and field coaches in the Sun Belt Conference don't expect the Louisiana Ragin' Cajun men's and women's squads to accomplish much in this weekend's league indoor track and field championships. UL was picked to finish ninth of nine teams in the men's competition and 10th of the ten teams in the women's division by the league coaches. "We're probably as young as we've ever been," said UL coach Lance Veazey, "and it's probably the smallest group we've ever taken to the indoor meet. We've got a lot of guys that never ran indoors until this year. But the biggest difference is we don't have that one guy on either side that can score 20 points." The rest of the story Dan McDonald dmcdonald@theadvertiser.com