Cross Country hosts Saluki Invite on Aug. 31

Friday, August 31

Carbondale, Ill.

Southern Illinois University

Saluki Invite

08/28/2018 | 4:09:00 | Cross Country

The Saluki Invite is Southern's first home cross country meet since 2014.

By: Will Becque, SIUSalukis.com

CARBONDALE, Ill. — The Southern Illinois University cross country program will open the 2018 season when it hosts the Saluki Invite on Friday, August 31.

Admission is free to all spectators and the meet begins with the men's race at 5:30 p.m. followed by the women's race at 6:15 p.m. The five-team field features regional foes Murray State, SIUE, Austin Peay and SEMO. The Saluki Invite will be SIU's first home cross country meet since 2014.

"It's been too long since we've had a home competition," third-year head coach Kevin Cataldo said. "Josh (Maier) is in his fifth year and he has never raced on his home course. We want to get back to being able to perform in front of our fans at home It's nice to get a couple of regional teams to race against and get our student-athletes to remember what it is like to race and lace the spikes up."

The Salukis return 12 runners (six men, six women) from last year's team, including their top runners in redshirt senior Josh Maier and redshirt junior Megan Krolak, and have their sights set on not only bettering their performance at the 2018 MVC Championships, but to also land individual bids to the NCAA Championships.

"On the men's side, this is the deepest team we've had in a number of years," Cataldo said. "On the women's side, we have a lot of talent upfront but we are really young."

Maier returns after an impressive junior campaign in which he finished fourth at the 2017 MVC Championships to earn All-MVC first team laurels and became SIU's first All-Region honoree since 2012. Krolak, meanwhile, was Southern's top finisher at five of the six meets she competed at last season.

"Josh and Megan are both great leaders," Cataldo said. "It's nice to have them back to show the underclassmen the ropes."

On the men's side, Maier is joined by juniors Cain Hassim and Chris Edwards. Hassim is primed to be a consistent contributor at the front of the pack after a solid sophomore season in which he was SIU's No. 2 finisher at five meets and went on to earn All-MVC honors with a third place finish in the 3000m steeplechase at the 2018 MVC Outdoor Track and Field Championships. Edwards also scored in the 3000m steeplechase at the conference meet, as he cut nearly nine seconds off his previous-best to finish sixth.

Five underclassmen will also push the pack on the men's side. Sophomores Michael Church, Jacob DeWitt and Theo Hassim are joined by newcomers Jacob Bryan and Reid Parsons. Bryan comes from Illini West, where he finished eighth at the 2017 IHSA Cross Country Championships while Parsons was a four-time state qualifier at Comstock high school in Kalamazoo, Mich.

On the women's side, Krolak is joined by junior Sasha Lanning and sophomore Sydney Spranger as returners from last year's squad. Lanning and Spranger will both be looked upon to contribute and take on increased roles during the forthcoming cross country season. Junior Olivia Murphy returns from injury and will look to build upon a freshman season in which she finished 32nd at the 2016 MVC Cross Country Championships. Redshirt junior Amber Ruiz-Bueno and redshirt freshman Erin Levon are also both in the mix after redshirting last season while SIU's six newcomers: Amelia Awe, Faith Houston, Kayla Schiera, Maddy Hurt, Grace McDurmon, and Sydney Matusik will also look to leave their mark right away.

Cataldo's goals for Friday's meet are straight-forward- compete and get an idea of where his student-athletes are in terms of their physical fitness.

"I just want to see our athletes go out there and compete," Cataldo said. "I want to see which incoming freshmen are hungry and really competitive and I want to see which returners are fit and where they should be at right now."