Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Southern Illinois University
Saluki Invite
Cross Country Opens Season With Saluki Invite
08/29/2019 | 12:00:00 | Cross Country
Men's Roster by Class
Freshmen: 3
- Ryan Buch, Travis Hart, JT Hodges
Sophomore: 2
- Reid Parsons, Brandon Schnitker
Junior: 4
- Michael Church, Jacob DeWitt, Theo Hassim, Canoy Tyree
Senior: 2
- Chris Edwards, Cain Hassim
Women's Roster by Class
Freshmen: 4
- Rachel Anderson, Claire Ayers, Josie Brown, Fallon Russell
Sophomore: 5
- Amelia Awe, Maddy Hurt, Sydney Matusik, Grace McDurmon, Kayla Schiera
Junior: 1
- Sydney Spranger
Senior: 5
- Sasha Lanning, Olivia Murphy, Madison Decker, Megan Krolak, Amber Ruiz-Bueno
The coaches of the Missouri Valley Conference's cross-country teams picked the SIU women's team to finish sixth in this year's preseason rankings with 47 points, while the men were pegged to finish seventh with 30 points.
MVC Preseason Poll – Men
1. Bradley (9) – 81 Points
2. Illinois State – 68 Points
3. Indiana State – 65 Points
4. Loyola – 52 Points
5. UNI – 44 Points
6. Drake – 32 Points
7. SIU – 30 Points
8. Valparaiso – 21 Points
9. Evansville – 12 Points
MVC Preseason Poll – Women
1. UNI (6) – 94 Points
2. Bradley (4) – 94 Points
3. Indiana State – 79 Points
4. Illinois State – 70 Points
5. Loyola – 59 Points
6. SIU – 47 Points
7. Missouri State – 42 Points
8. Drake – 35 Points
9. Evansville – 17 Points
10. Valparaiso – 13 Points
Coach Kevin Cataldo preseason thoughts
On the upcoming season for the men's side:
We have a very deep conference on the men's side, and I think our guys are up to the challenge of beating some good MVC teams. All they have to do is focus on themselves and compete. I already told them that this year, time goes out the window. It's all about the place in each meet we compete in.
On the upcoming season for the women's side:
I'm excited for the women's team this year. We have a young group, but this is the most depth we've had in a long time.
On retaining his two through five finishers on the men's side from last year:
It's big getting back our two through five finishers this year. We should have a very close spread at each race, which can really help us come championship time.
On retaining the top-two finishers from the women's side:
Returning our top two is great, but what's even better is we return our top six from last year and we've added to that group. We now have six women who have competed at the MVC and Regional Championships, so that already gives us more experience than last year.
On the impact the newcomers can have for the men:
It's hard to rely on a freshman when they now have to add two miles to the race distance for a majority of the year. They have to double the race distance from high school for the NCAA Regional meet. It's a big learning curve, but I do like what I've seen so far in our workouts.
On the younger roster the women's side has:
It's nice to have a veteran group, but we don't. We were young last year too, which allowed the freshmen, now sophomores, to get a lot of experience at a young age. I'm hopeful that this will be to our advantage as we move through the season. Luckily, the freshmen women are familiar with the race distance against MVC opponents and will only have to run 1k further at the NCAA Regional meet. We will get some practice with that distance at Missouri and at pre-nationals.
The Salukis will participate in three runs before Pre-Nationals, as they will start off with the Saluki Invite on Friday, followed by races at Illinois State (Sept. 13) and Mizzou (Sept. 27). Pre-Nationals will be held on Oct. 19, with Indiana State playing host. The Missouri Valley Conference Championships will follow Pre-Nationals on Nov. 2, followed by the NCAA Midwest Regional at Oklahoma State University on Nov. 15. The NCAA Championships take place on Nov. 23, hosted by Indiana State University.
For the latest information on the Saluki Cross Country teams, make sure to check out SIUSalukis.com, or follow the team on social media including Facebook and Twitter.
Players Mentioned
