HAMMOND, La. – A pair of young Southeastern Louisiana cross country squads made strides during a 2017 season which concluded at the Southland Conference Championships last month.

    Dealing with rough running conditions and illnesses throughout both squads, the Lions finished ninth at the conference meet while the Lady Lions came in 10^th. The men's finish was their best since 2012.

    And while the season may not have ended the way the Lions and Lady Lions may have liked, Southeastern head coach Rocky Capello said the future is promising for both teams.

    The men's squad featured five freshmen in Adam Cortez, Anthony Cordero, Reed Callegan, Jonathan Respress and Logan Thibodeaux. They joined returnees sophomores Grant O'Callaghan and Bryant White and juniors Brett Olivier and Tajh Lewis. The Lady Lions were even younger with six freshmen – Breanna Bernard, Sophie Daigle, Lindsey Hutcheson, Lydia Pevey, Tara Stuntz and Lorraine Weiskopf joining sophomore Lill-Ann Hochkeppler.

    Those freshmen were part of a renewed commitment to improving the program as a whole.  

    "We knew we had to bring in some kids with some better performances on the high school level," Capello said. "We were able to do that and they over-performed to be honest with you. Adam and Anthony were pretty good on the high school level, but nobody expected either one of those guys to run the times they did this year as college freshmen. Adam broke 25 minutes in a 5-mile race and Tony was really close to 25 minutes at Texas A&M. With another year of training and increasing the mileage a little bit, they should a good bit faster next year. Same with the women. Sophie, Bre, Tara, Lindsey and Lydia, they should all be faster next year with another year of training."

    The Lions got off to a strong start, taking third at the New Orleans Invitational with Cortez earning Southland Men's Athlete of the Year honors after finishing second individually. Southeastern then captured the LSU Invitational, its first team victory in a non-relay event since the Louisiana Army National Guard/ROTC Loyola Wolfpack Invitational in 2014. Cortez had his second-straight second-place finish, Cordero came in third and O'Callaghan fifth. Olivier (11^th) and White (20^th) also had top-20 finishes.

    That's when illnesses started hitting the team.

    "The healthiest we were during the season was at the LSU meet," Capello said. "And right after that is when everybody started getting sick. Every kid in our top five got sick except for Bryant. I've never experienced anything like that. I think if we can stay healthy for a full season and if we can add one or two guys, we will be really good next year."

    Capello said the team's inexperience may have also shown at the conference meet, noting that upperclassmen dominated the field.

    "I think the nerves kind of got us a little bit," Capello said. "We tried to do more than we should have too early. We didn't run the race the way we did at UNO and LSU. We got really, really aggressive and you can't do that in a 5-mile race. The nerves kind of crept up on us a little bit and caused us to attempt to do some things we shouldn't have tried to do. Every year you are going to get better in that kind of thing. If you look at the results, there was only one man in the top 28 who was a freshman. It's tough to do really well as a freshman in our conference."

    Capello was also pleased with the Lady Lions' performance during the season. Four members recorded career-best times as the Lady Lions placed fourth at the McNeese Cowboy Stampede. Stuntz had three top-20 finishes and received honorable mention conference athlete of the week recognition three times. Daigle was also an honorable mention selection after placing 12^th at McNeese.

    "I'm really excited about how they performed during the season, Tara, Sophie and Bre, especially," Capello said. "They did great. I think with a little more experience, those three girls are going to be outstanding. All three ran 23:20s or faster. Sophie and Tara both broke 23 minutes which is really, really outstanding for a true freshman. And Lindsey has had her best practices recently. I think she is going to be really good next year. Given that we ran five true freshmen the whole season, I was really proud of how they competed and with another year in this system, I think those girls are going to do really well."

    Capello and Southeastern track and field head coach Corey Mistretta are already preparing for 2018, bringing in one early signee on Wednesday and looking to get a few more commitments. And the women's side will be boosted by the return of Clarissa Smith, a 2016 All-Louisiana selection who redshirted this season.

    "I think we will get at least another two girls so next year, having eight or nine girls competing, it's going to be a lot better for the team and we'll be a lot more competitive."

    Southeastern wrapped up the fall with a time trial on Thursday. The squads will take a week off before starting training for the indoor track season, slated to open at the LSU Purple Tiger in Baton Rouge on Jan. 5.