Josh Maier wins Men’s Open Race at Nuttycombe Invitational

Friday, September 28

Madison, WI

Southern Illinois University

Nuttycombe Invitational

Photo by: Tom Weber

09/28/2018 | 4:37:00 | Cross Country

The redshirt senior clocked a personal-best 8K time to win for the second time this season.

By: Will Becque, SIUSalukis.com

Southern Illinois University cross country runner Josh Maier won for the second time this season, and the sixth time of his career, as he posted a career-best 8K time to win the Open race of the Nuttycombe Invitational.

Maier ran the 8K course, which will host the 2018 NCAA Cross Country Championships, in a personal-best time of 24:19.3- nearly 22 seconds better than his previous PR time. It is currently the fastest 8K time in the Missouri Valley Conference.

The redshirt senior from Alsip, Ill. ran at the front from the beginning, as he was in fifth at the 2K split and moved up to fourth at the 4K mark. He only got faster as the meet wore on, as his third 2K clocked in at 6:01.7 and he ran his final 2K split in under six minutes to beat a field of 92 runners.

"Josh Maier's performance was just 'wow!" director of track and field/cross country Rosalind Joseph said. "He looked smooth, poised and I'm so glad that his dedication continues to pay off. Our men running behind Josh really trust him to lead the way. That says a lot about him off the course, as well."

All told, all seven Saluki men set 8K personal-bests on Friday. Cain Hassim, who was the second Saluki to cross the finish line, ran 25:22.7- more than 12 seconds faster then his previous PR. Jacob DeWitt ran 26:31.4 to cut almost 27 seconds off his personal-best while Theo Hassim chomped 11 seconds off his PR with his time of 26:27.0.

Reid Parsons (26:45.3) and Jacob Bryan (27:21.8), both running in their second collegiate 8Ks, each cut nearly :30 seconds off their previous season-bests while Michael Church (26:55.0) trimmed nearly 19 seconds off his previous best.

On the women's side, five of SIU's six runners were competing in their first collegiate 6K race. Megan Krolak, the only Saluki woman to have run in a 6K race prior to Friday's competition, ran 21:58.4 to finish 38th out of 114 runners in the women's open race.

Olivia Murphy ran 22:08.5 to finish 44th, while Kayla Schiera ran 24:33.1 to place 65th. Grace McDurmon (23:34.3), Maddy Hurt (23:42.7) and Sydney Matusik (24:44.6) also competed for the Salukis.

"Our women are growing every week and becoming more confident as a team," Joseph said.

The Salukis are back in action at the Bradley Pink Classic, hosted by Bradley University, on Friday, Oct. 12. It will mark the first of three-straight trips to Peoria for SIU, as they will return on Oct. 27 for the 2018 MVC Championships and again for the NCAA Regional meet on Nov. 9.