Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Women's cross country prepares for Roy Griak Invitational
09/22/2005 | 12:00:00 | Cross Country
Sept. 22, 2005
By Matt Crouch
www.SIUSalukis.com
CARBONDALE, Ill. - The Southern Illinois University women's cross country team will see its toughest competition to date as the team travels to Minneapolis, Minn., Saturday, Sept. 24 to compete in the Roy Griak Invitational.
Hosted by the University of Minnesota, the Roy Griak Invitational is celebrating its 20th anniversary and is expecting a record-breaking turnout, making it one of the largest cross country meets in the nation.
The meet conducts nine events throughout the day. Included in the schedule are three women's collegiate events, two men's collegiate events and four high school races. Overall, more than 3,000 participants are expected from more than 275 teams.
The SIU women's cross country team will compete in the 6K Women's Gold event, which starts at 12:10 p.m. at the Les Bolstad Golf Course. Last year's champion, Kim Smith of Providence, went on to win the individual NCAA Championship.
With the recent success of the team, Salukis head coach Matt Sparks is optimistic about the upcoming weekend.
"Sarah Rinker did a great job last weekend in her debut for the season. Lindsay Wagner, someone that had been struggling in practice, really stepped up and competed well for having a rough preseason," said Sparks. " I look for us to do the same thing this weekend."
Though this will be the Dawgs' first trip to the Roy Griak Invitational, Sparks is familiar with the level of competition from being at the event while coaching at Indiana University.
"Eleven of the top 30 teams in the country are going to be in Minnesota. There are going to be 33 teams, so if we can finish in the top half of the meet then we are doing well," said Sparks. "We would potentially be beating some nationally-ranked teams if we can finish in the top 16 of those 33 teams."
Making the trip to Minneapolis for SIU will be Juniors Katie Birn, Rinker and Wagner; along with sophomores Jessica Ordway and Cherylynn Schilling. Rinker picked up her first individual victory last weekend at the EIU Panther Open.
"I would like to see our top person finish in the top 30 overall. The pack running that we worked on last week worked very well," said Sparks.
"It will be a good experience for those that are traveling to see what the best teams in the country are doing. We will also get to see the course that will host the NCAA Regional meet in 2006."
The meet will be a new experience all-around for the Salukis as the team will not only be competing on a very tough course but also having to deal with a large group of people.
"It is a pretty demanding course, a hilly course, which is a lot different than what we ran on last week," said Sparks.
"The hilly course and having more than 300 people in the race, where the other meets we have competed in this year have had 50-75 people in them. It's more of a mental barrier than a physical barrier to get used to running with 300 people in the race."
The team will also use the meet to get a little more familiar with some conference foes.
"We will get to see Wichita State for the first time this year. Along with us, they are one of the favorites to win the conference meet," said Sparks. "We will get to see where we are at this season and get a little more familiar with them."
The first race of the day begins at 9 a.m. with the final race beginning at 3:10 p.m. Tickets for the Roy Griak Invitational are $5 for adults and $2 for children. Children under 6 years of age are free.
