Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Cross Country Hosting 28th Annual Saluki Invitational On Saturday
10/10/2002 | 12:00:00 | Cross Country
Oct. 10, 2002
CARBONDALE, Ill. - The Southern Illinois University men's and women's cross country teams will host the 28th Saluki Invitational Saturday morning.
The annual event will kick off with the women's 6K race at 10:30 a.m., with the men's 8K race following at 11. The Salukis will host 10 schools, including Austin Peay, Illinois State, Indiana St., Memphis, Murray St., Saint Louis, Southeast Missouri St., Southern Indiana, Vanderbilt and Vincennes.
This will be the next-to-last regular-season meet of the year for both teams, as the Missouri Valley Conference Championships quickly approach.
"Things are starting to get real serious,'' said men's head coach Matt McClelland. "It's that time of year when things need to start coming together. We are glad to be home this weekend so we can see if we can get something going for the rest of the season."
"We will see several teams this week that we have seen throughout the season, and this meet will give us an indication on how we have improved from early in the season," said women's head coach Matt Sparks.
Four SIU seniors --Ryan Hauser, Katie Meehan, Jodi Huddlestun and Erin Simone -- will be competing in the final home meet of their college careers.
"They are determined to go out with a strong individual and team performance,'' said Sparks of his senior trio.
"This is his course, he's been here the longer than anyone, and he has earned it,'' said McClelland of Hauser. "We really want him to go out and have a good final home meet.''
The women's team will be at full strength for the second straight meet, as Noa Beitler is back with the team, and the men's team will welcome back Steve Murray, who has been out all year with an injury.
The Saluki men have won nine Saluki Invitational titles, with the last coming in 1997. They placed second to Indiana St. last year.
"The strongest team should be Indiana St., who beat us here last year by two points,'' said McClelland. "They have a pretty strong field this year."
The women's team has won nine times overall, and placed fifth last season.
