Southern Illinois University
Notre Dame Invitational
Salukis compete at Joe Piane Invitational
09/29/2017 | 4:26:00 | Cross Country
The Southern Illinois cross country teams competed in their largest meet thus far this season Friday at the 62nd annual Joe Piane Invitational, hosted by the University of Notre Dame.
The Saluki men finished 15th out of 19 teams in the Gold 8K race. Senior Josh Maier was once again the top finisher for the Saluki men placing ninth overall with a time of 24:56.2. Maier was one of three runners from the Missouri Valley Conference to stay at the front of the pack for much of the race, as he was accompanied by Loyola's Alex Baker, who finished fifth, and Indiana State's Seth Cousins, who crossed .6 ahead of Maier in eighth.
Junior transfer Cain Hassim placed 58th with a time of 26:01.1 and Jacob DeWitt finished in 26:40.0 to place 93rd. Jonathan Vara placed 102nd with a time of 26:46.5. Michael Church and Chris Edwards also ran at the meet and finished 135th and 139th, respectively.
Temple won the men's team title on the strength of four top-20 finishes. St. Louis, St. Mary's, Indiana State and Loyola rounded out the top-five on the men's side.Â
The Saluki women finished 16th out of 25 teams in the Gold 5K run. Megan Krolak continued her solid sophomore campaign as she clocked a season-best 5K time of 17:48.6 to finish 19th overall. Claire Darnell finished 64th with a time of 18:32.0 while Kelly O'Shea ran 18:43.1 to take 80th overall. Sasha Lanning (138), Hillary Merrill (163), and Sydney Spranger (182) also competed for the Salukis.
Northern Iowa took home the women's team title as the Panthers placed four in the top-20, including three in the top-15. UNI was followed by Temple, St. Louis, Idaho State and Creighton in the 25-team field.
The Salukis will have the next weekend off before they head to Louisville, Ky. to compete in Pre-Nationals on Sat., Oct. 14.
Players Mentioned
