Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Southern Illinois University
State Farm MVC Championships
Cross Country men win MVC championship, women finish seventh
10/27/2007 | 12:00:00 | Cross Country
Oct. 27, 2007
By Ryan Shaw
www.siusalukis.com
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa - The Southern Illinois men's cross country team won its 11th conference championship in school history today at the 2007 State Farm MVC Championships. On the women's side, the Salukis took seventh place.
The Saluki men collected the MVC individual championship for the second year in a row as sophomore Jeff Schirmer finished in first with a time of 24:31.47. Last year's champion Mohamed Mohamed finished just behind Schirmer with a time of 24:33.80. Rounding out the top three was another Saluki, as senior Kevin Doran posted a time of 24:34.07.
"I can't tell you the last time that someone went one, two and three individually, on the men's side everything went just as planned," said head coach Matt Sparks. "We're really excited for Kevin and Mohamed, the defending champion, and now Jeff is champion. We've got two conference champions on the team at the same time, which bodes well for the future.
"We're all excited for the lone senior on the team, Kevin Doran, who is a two time All-Conference performer now, so we're sending him out on a good note."
Also competing for the Salukis were Jason Ordway (13th, 25:00.43), Kyle Kirchner (16th, 25:15.57), Mark Bowman (27th, 25:32.92), Daniel Dunbar (28th, 25:35.09) and Greg McBride (31st, 25:49.89).
With the win, the Salukis are now tied with Drake for most conference championships with eleven.
On the women's side, the Salukis were led by sophomore A'Seret Dukobo, who earned All-Conference honors with her 17:44.95 time and ninth place finish. Freshman Emily Toennies was SIU's second finisher, placing 32nd with a time of 18:44.97.
"I think that with such a young team the anxiety and the stress of the big meet got to them just a little bit," said Sparks. "A'Seret ran well and Emily Toennies stepped up as a freshman and really performed well. They were kind of the two bright spots for us."
Also competing for the Salukis were Nefeteri Williams (40th, 19:01.45), Ryan Eichelberger (57th, 19:39.02), Megan Hoelscher (59th, 19:43.04), Toni Whitfield (64th, 19:57.06) and Merry Lanker (t67th, 20:22.52).
Players Mentioned
