Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Men's cross country heads to Lakeshore Invitational
09/29/2005 | 12:00:00 | Cross Country
Sept. 29, 2005
By Matt Crouch
www.SIUSalukis.com
CARBONDALE, Ill. - The Southern Illinois University men's cross country team returns to action this weekend as the team travels to Chicago for the Lakeshore Invitational, hosted by Loyola-Chicago.
"This event is exciting for a lot of kids on the team because of the Chicago area," said Saluki head coach Matt Sparks. "They have a lot of friends and family that are coming out to the event."
The Salukis took last week off after finishing fifth at the EIU Panther Open.
Some fresh faces will hit the track for the Dawgs this week as senior Joe Byrne and freshman Mohamed Mohamed will be competing in their first events of the season.
"We're excited to get Joe and Mohamed in uniform. They have not competed for us this year and they should make a significant contribution to our performance as a team." said Sparks.
"I'm looking for Joe especially to be very competitive in the meet and finish somewhere in the top five or 10 overall."
The event will be one of the strongest on SIU's schedule. Three of the top 15 teams in the Midwest Region, the NCAA Region that SIU competes in, will be at the meet as well as Indiana University, who is currently No. 19 in the country.
Also competing in the event are three teams from the Missouri Valley Conference (Evansville, Missouri State, Illinois State). These are three key match ups that Sparks is looking for, especially with Missouri State, one of the teams that SIU is expected to compete with for the conference championship.
"It will also be interesting for us to see Missouri State, Evansville and Illinois State and see where we stack up against some of the conference competition this time of year," said Sparks.
"Missouri State has the top returning guy in the conference, Michael Breshears. He is someone that Joe Byrne has had his sights on all year."
The Dawgs will be traveling with the entire team, minus one runner. Kyle Monroe, who has posted solid finishes for the Salukis in the first two events of the year, will sit out because of an illness.
"He needs to rest and we do not want to take the chance of taking him there and maybe he gets sicker," said Sparks. "We are focusing on the end of the season and getting healthy."
SIU will be competing in the Collegiate-Gold Men's Division. Action begins at 12:45 p.m. at Montrose Avenue Beach.
Teams Competing in the Event:
Azusa Pacific University
Chicago State University
Creighton University
DePaul University
Eastern Kentucky University
Eastern Michigan University
University of Evansville
Grand Valley State University
University of Guelph (Canada)
University of Illinois
Illinois State University
#19 Indiana University
Lewis University
Loyola University Chicago
Malone College
Marquette University
Missouri State University
North Central TC
Saginaw Valley State University
Southeast Missouri State
Southern Illinois University
University of Southern Indiana
Speed River TFC
University of Central Florida
University of Western Ontario
Universal Sole - Reebok
University of Chicago
Valparaiso University
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Xavier University
