MVC Championships On Deck For Saluki Cross Country

Saturday, November 2

Valparaiso, IN

11 a.m.

Southern Illinois University

MVC Championships

Photo Credit: Laura Duffy

Photo by: Laura Duffy

10/31/2019 | 2:10:00 | Cross Country

Catch the men and women on ESPN3

By: Brandon Lindholm, SIUSalukis.com

CARBONDALE, Ill. – The Southern Illinois Saluki cross country teams will race at the 2019 Missouri Valley Conference Championships this Saturday, Nov. 2, in Valparaiso, Indiana. The Saluki men will compete in the eight-kilometer race at 10:30 a.m. followed by the women's five-kilometer at 11:30 a.m. Both races will broadcast live on The Valley on ESPN3 for the third year in a row.

The race will be hosted by Valparaiso University for the first time in MVC history and will take place at Sunset Hill Farm Country Park. The park is home to Valparaiso's annual Crusader Open, which held its 31^st running at the start of the 2019 season. The course is new for the Salukis, as fourth-year head coach Kevin Cataldo hasn't had the opportunity to see it firsthand.

"I don't know much other than from what I saw in the video and what I've seen from the course map," said Cataldo. "There's a couple of long straightaways in it. When there are turns, they're at a 90-degree angle and can break up a rhythm a little bit. However, the long straightaways will make up for that. The course doesn't really matter though. All that matters is that our mindset going into it is right."

Saturday's weather forecast calls for partly sunny skies with a high of 39 degrees with a low of 30. While the weather looks like it could be favorable for the race, rain has hit the area over the past couple of days and could pose as a threat to the runners and their rhythm due to muddy conditions.

"It could be muddy. The weather conditions could slow it down," said Cataldo. "However, it doesn't matter. Luckily, we have a challenging course at home that we've finished some easy races on and done some workouts on. That course gets muddy pretty quick, so we'll be ready for any of the elements. It's cross country weather. It's that time of the year where if you aren't standing on the line when it's cold weather, raining or snowing, it's just not cross country."

In this year's coaches' poll, Bradley's men were selected as the favorite to win the conference championship for a fifth-straight year. The field of runners that the Salukis will go up against have all the makings of a talented group. After placing sixth at last year's meet, the Salukis have been projected to finish eighth at this season's championships.

"Our men just need to go out there and execute like we do in practice," said Cataldo. "Getting Chris Edwards and Jacob DeWitt back to full strength is huge because they're just getting back into the swing of things and are starting to look a lot better. It's a very small field of teams and we know where we need to place ourselves throughout the race. We tell our athletes that you don't have a record going into the conference meet. It's the postseason and everybody goes to it. You could run like a rock star all year long and if you don't show up on that day, it doesn't matter. As long as you show up on that day, that's all that matters."

On the women's side, Loyola was picked to take home the title after last year's second place finish in the MVC Championships. At the 2018 MVC Championships, the Saluki women took seventh place and have been pegged to finish seventh this year in the coaches' poll.

"I think we're really young," Cataldo said of the Saluki women. "I think we have two talented athletes that are looking to put themselves into the top tier of the Valley in Megan Krolak and Olivia Murphy. I think it's going to be more of a learning experience for the rest of them, but I'm not going to take that from them. I still think we can finish higher than what we're ranked. We're going to have to run really well. We sat Grace McDurmon for Pre-Nationals and she's looking really good coming back from that. I think she can have a big impact. I also think that we've had some people look really good in the back of the pack and that they could have a great impact on the race, like Madison Decker. I'm excited to see what we can do and I'm looking for us to go in and upset some teams."

On the men's side, Cain Hassim, Reid Parsons, Chris Edwards, Jacob DeWitt, Michael Church, JT Hodges, Travis Hart and Canoy Tyree are all expected to run for the Salukis. Meanwhile, the Saluki women are expected to race Olivia Murphy, Megan Krolak, Rachel Anderson, Fallon Russell, Grace McDurmon, Sydney Matusik, Maddy Hurt and Madison Decker.

"This is the day that we've been preparing for ever since we stepped foot on campus."

Men's Pre-Championship Coaches' Poll
1. Bradley – 78 points
2. Drake – 67 points
3. Loyola – 61 points
4. Illinois State – 56 points
5. UNI – 40 points
6. Indiana State – 37 points
7. Valparaiso – 35 points
8. Southern Illinois – 22 points
9. Evansville – 9 points

Women's Pre-Championship Coaches' Poll
1. Loyola – 97 points
2. Bradley – 93 points
3. Illinois State – 77 points
4. Indiana State – 65 points
5. Missouri State – 60 points
6. UNI – 49 points
7. Southern Illinois – 46 points
8. Drake – 31 points
9. Evansville – 17 points
10 Valparaiso – 15 points

Follow Along
Live results will be tracked and can be found here, while live video will be broadcasted through ESPN3.

Up Next
Following the conclusion on Saturday's race, the Salukis will switch gears and begin to focus on the NCAA Regional Championships in Stillwater, Okla. On Friday, Nov. 15.

For the latest updates on the Salukis, follow the team on Twitter (@SIUTrackXC), Instagram (@SIUTrackXC) and Facebook (@SalukiTrackAndField).