Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Southern Illinois University
Saluki Invitational (Men 8K)
Cross Country sweeps Saluki Invitational
10/07/2006 | 12:00:00 | Cross Country
Oct. 7, 2006
Women's 5K Results
Men's 8K Results
Photo Gallery on DawgTracker.com
By Matt Crouch
www.SIUSalukis.com
CARBONDALE, Ill. - Defending the home turf was the theme for the day as the Southern Illinois University cross country teams picked up a sweep at the Saluki Invitational, winning the team championship in both the men's and women's division.
The Salukis placed six runners in the top 15 to take the team championship in the women's 5K. SIU finished with 50 points, coming in six points ahead of runner-up Southern Indiana.
The University of Missouri-Kansas City's Sara Hiller won the individual title in the women's race with a time of 17:48.66.
Junior Brittani Christensen led the Salukis as she finished in sixth place with a time of 18:25.73.
Christensen was followed by Nefeteri Williams (9th,18:30.95), Sarah Rinker (10th, 18:32.36), Katie Birn (12th, 18:37.15), A'Seret Dokubo (13th, 18:38.96) and Cherylynn Schilling (15th, 18:42.08).
The top six Salukis all finished within 20 seconds of each other, something that head coach Matt Sparks says will help the team down the road.
"Brittani Christensen once again stepped up with the upperclassman support that we have been looking for. One of the things that we always talk about in cross country is our one-to-five gap and that was much better today," said Sparks.
"The gap between Brittani Christensen and Cherylynn Schilling was about 20 seconds and that is a great time gap to have. Now if we get the overall time up a bit, we can contend for a conference championship. They are improving week by week, which is what you hope to do with cross country. We've got the group running strong together, it's just a matter of getting that group to work their way up in the thick of things."
Also competing for SIU's women were Ty-Nica Davis (46th 20:00.03), Amy Phegley (56th, 20:19.10), Merry Lanker (63rd, 20:32.47) and Tecora Duckett (98th, 22:33.81).
In the men's 8K, sophomore Mohamed Mohamed picked up his first career individual title and set a new personal-best time as he blew away the competition, winning by 15 seconds of Evansville's Nick Waninger.
"I can't say enough about how far Mohamed Mohamed has come from a year ago to now. He has totally committed himself and as a result he basically ran away with it today. The guy that he beat (Waninger) is one of the top three guys in the conference so he has definitely positioned himself as a favorite to win the conference meet in the three weeks," said Sparks.
Mohamed won with a time of 24:32.68. Two other Salukis, Kevin Doran and Jeff Schirmer, also finished in the top five. Doran came in fourth with a time of 25:01.59 while Schirmer came in at 25:06.51.
Rounding out scoring for SIU were freshman Jason Ordway and sophomore Brad Pirok. Ordway came in 15th with a time of 25:39.19 as Pirok came in 20th with a time of 26:07.17.
Also competing for SIU were Kyle Monroe (22nd, 26:15.31), Mark Bowman (23rd, 26:15.90), Tyler Bradford (25th, 26:18.27), Greg McBride (33rd, 26:31.61), Jason Brosseau (54th, 27:30.62) and Tom Gentry (57th, 27:43.00).
The Salukis return to action Saturday, Oct. 14 with the Pre-Nationals in Terre Haute, Ind.
