Women Take 4th, Men Take 5th at MVC Championships

Friday, October 29

Normal, IL

Southern Illinois University

MVC Championships

10/29/2021 | 9:45:00 | Cross Country

By: By Brad Gray, SIUSalukis.com

Normal, Ill. – The Southern Illinois cross country teams took part in the Missouri Valley Conference Championships hosted by Illinois State University on Friday.

The championship meet was hosted on the campus of ISU at the Weibring Golf Course. The weather was a factor in today's races with steady rain in the Normal area. The event kicked off at 1:00 pm with the women's 6K race first. The SIU women finished in 4^th place with a total of 109 points. This was the best finish by an SIU women's team at the MVC Championships since 2014, when the Salukis finished 3^rd in the team standings. The top four Saluki finishers in the women's race set 6K PR's, and all finished within the top-25. Kayla Schiera was the top time for SIU with a 5^th place finish at 21:10.52. Stephanie Anthonies ran her best time of the year to finish 16^th (21:58.7), with Claire Ayers (19^th/22:02.6) and Josie Brown (22^nd/22:12.7) filling out the rest of the top four times. Rachel Anderson (49^th), Ansley Bailey (55^th), and Sydney Matusik (68^th) rounded out the remaining spots for the women's squad.

"I thought we did phenomenal," said head coach Kevin Cataldo "We were a very young group, especially in terms of competing at MVC Championships. This was one of the toughest conference meets I've seen, and for us to come out the way we did with that much youth I could not be happier. These girls just want to compete and they just want to run for each other. They showed that today! I was honestly speechless. Top to bottom, I thought they ran really well. I think they just trusted their training and trusted the process."

Kayla Schiera continued her dominant fall season with her top-5 finish and All-Conference honors. Schiera's 5^th place was the best finish by a Saluki woman at the MVC conference meet since 2013.

The men's race followed immediately after with a 2:00 pm start. The Saluki men finished 5^th in the team standings with a total of 121 points. Southern was 4 points shy of beating host school Illinois State for a 4^th place finish. The 5^th place finish is the best finish for a Southern men's team since the 2014 conference meet. Ethan Senti led the pack for the Dawgs with a 10^th place finish of 24:54.7. In back-to-back-to-back order, Dawson Smith followed up Senti by finishing 11^th (25:03.0), with Noah McIntyre finishing up close behind for a 12^th place time (25:06.7). Uriah Guthrie (39^th/26:06.6), Travis Hart (49^th/26:35.6), and Vincent Van Eck (56^th/27:10.8) rounded out the rest of the field for the Salukis

"I couldn't be prouder of this group. To go 10th, 11th, 12^th; I think that could be the best freshman trio in the conference. I think that speaks volumes for the future of this program and that recruiting class. Uriah Guthrie battled like crazy to get back into the race after a slip, Travis Hart really rallied late to catch a few guys as well. And Vinnie ran through a cramp mid-race and gave us a chance to catch Illinois State. From the top down in the men's race there were no complaints, I thought everybody battled for their teammate which put us in a great position," said Cataldo.

Senti's 10^th place finish earned him MVC All-Conference honors. Dawson Smith and Noah McIntyre gained All-Conference Honorable Mention honors for their 11^th and 12^th place results. The trio of freshmen earned the conference honors and were the 2^nd, 3^rd, and 4^th fastest times by a freshman at the championship meet. Drake Freshman Enzo Marie was the fastest time by a freshman with his 6^th place finish of 24:49.9. The last time SIU had 3 men finish in the top-15 was in 2014.

"Today was a lot of fun! Despite the weather, despite the experience, they all really took advantage of the opportunity to be here and the opportunity to showcase how hard they've been working and how much they missed the ability to compete in this sport. This has been the best team finish the men or women have had since my time here at SIU and I'm excited for their continued growth," said Director of Track and Field Rosalind Joseph.

The men and women of Southern Illinois will return to post-season action in two weeks when they head to Iowa City, Iowa, for the 2021 NCAA Midwest Regional Championship.

Final Results from the MVC Championships: https://bit.ly/3bhGeuW

Men's Team Scores
1. Drake – 20 points
2. Bradley – 53 points
3. Loyola – 95 points
4. Illinois St. – 117 points
5. Southern Illinois – 121 points
6. Indiana St. – 145 points
7. Northern Iowa – 174 points
8. Valparaiso – 240 points
9. Evansville – 307 points

Women's Team Scores
1. Loyola – 36 points
2. Bradley – 62 points
3. Illinois State – 90 points
4. Southern Illinois – 111 points
5. Drake – 127 points
6. Northern Iowa – 163 points
7. Missouri St. – 162 points
8. Indiana St. – 165 points
9. Valparaiso – 294 points
10. Evansville – 302 points

Missouri Valley All-Conference Honors (SIU)
Kayla Schiera: All-Conference
Ethan Senti: All-Conference
Dawson Smith: All-Conference Honorable Mention
Noah McIntyre: All-Conference Honorable Mention

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