Friday, November 1
Cedar Falls, IA
10:30 AM
Southern Illinois University
vs
Missouri Valley Conference
Recap | Cross Country finishes the 2024 MVC Championship
11/01/2024 | 3:09:00 | Cross Country
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa. - Southern Illinois Cross Country competed at the MVC Championship Friday, Oct. 18, in Cedar Falls, Iowa. The women's team finished in 10th place out of 12 teams in the 6K. The men's team finished ninth place out of 11 teams in the 8K race.Â
Head coach Angelina Ramos gave her thoughts on the team's performance on Friday.Â
"Today was a learning experience for both the veterans and novice cross country championship competitors, given how the conference has catalyzed and changed across the last three years."Â
In 2022, the top 15 all-conference 6k women's performers were under 22:00, and for 8k men were under 25:00. In 2023, the top 15 all-conference 6k women were under 21:40 and the top 15 all-conference 8k men's performers were under 25:13. This year in 2024, the top 15 men's 8k performers were all under 24:00, while the women's top 15 all-conference performers were all under 20:50.Â
"This is a testament to the strength of the Missouri Valley Conference and how it is trending in the distance cross-country sector as a conference," Ramos said.  "I am seeing that firsthand, we can respond and rise accordingly to the occasion."Â
Coach Ramos is proud of the way her team competed in the 2024 MVC Championship.
"Saluki's 2024 MVC competition can be summarized by feeling multiple emotions hand in hand: applauding many yet frustrated by team scores and team finishes that don't evidence their work and tell a whole story."
She continued, "There is extreme pride at every single SIU male/female returning team competitor running the fastest 6k or 8k they ever have at an MVC conference championship cross country meet (Bri Nieset 6k-22:26, Uriah Guthrie 8k-25:12, Weston Jokerst 8k-24:33, Hannah Meiser 6k-21:36, Audrey Boles 6k-22:48)."
"I tip my hat off to our freshmen men dependable to perform their 8k personal best effort on the day (Will from 26:18 to 25:44 and Ben Chance from 25:37 to 25:25) in their first-ever championship performance for the Salukis. There's a respect that comes with that. Also laudable is recognizing the consistency within their bandwidth shown by 3 of our top 5 women (Hannah Meiser, Britany Ziemer, and Audrey Boles) to run within 3-7 seconds of their lifetime best 6k effort ON the day for their teammates. I'm equally impressed by SIU medical student Britany Ziemer's jump from NCAA Division Three previously to fierce competitiveness in NCAA Division 1 this year with only two chances to practice her racing skill set, given medical school rules around allowable number of absences."
Â
Noteworthy is Hannah Meiser's growth from finishing 76th at the MVC cross country championships last year as a freshman in a then PR of 23:34 and 33rd this year as a sophomore in 21:36.Â
Coach Ramos on what the future will look like for the Saluki Cross Country Program.Â
"While acknowledging all of that, I'm an extremely competitive person as are many of these athletes within our squad, and we are hungry for more. It's on me to get them there as well as recruit to ensure we can cover the loss (to graduation) of our #2 on the men's side and #2,3, and 5 on the women's side."
Â
"We collectively support our athletes who gave their entire hearts today despite coming off of illness or adversities or powering through challenging majors or medical school, and yet also believe in the immense talents, gifts, and grit that many of our Salukis possess, and know there is more potential to extract out."Â
The race results can be seen below.
Men's 8K ResultsÂ
"I saw a lot of tenacity and grit out there on the course and I'm proud to lead the Dawgs."Â
Â
Full race results can be seen here.Â
Â
UP NEXTÂ
The Salukis will have two weeks to regroup for the NCAA Regionals in Peoria, Ill., Friday, Nov. 15.Â
Â
FOLLOW THE SALUKISÂ
For the latest updates on the Salukis, follow the team on X (@SIUTrackXC), Instagram (@SIUTrackXC) and Facebook (@SalukiTrackAndField).
Â
Head coach Angelina Ramos gave her thoughts on the team's performance on Friday.Â
"Today was a learning experience for both the veterans and novice cross country championship competitors, given how the conference has catalyzed and changed across the last three years."Â
In 2022, the top 15 all-conference 6k women's performers were under 22:00, and for 8k men were under 25:00. In 2023, the top 15 all-conference 6k women were under 21:40 and the top 15 all-conference 8k men's performers were under 25:13. This year in 2024, the top 15 men's 8k performers were all under 24:00, while the women's top 15 all-conference performers were all under 20:50.Â
"This is a testament to the strength of the Missouri Valley Conference and how it is trending in the distance cross-country sector as a conference," Ramos said.  "I am seeing that firsthand, we can respond and rise accordingly to the occasion."Â
Coach Ramos is proud of the way her team competed in the 2024 MVC Championship.
"Saluki's 2024 MVC competition can be summarized by feeling multiple emotions hand in hand: applauding many yet frustrated by team scores and team finishes that don't evidence their work and tell a whole story."
She continued, "There is extreme pride at every single SIU male/female returning team competitor running the fastest 6k or 8k they ever have at an MVC conference championship cross country meet (Bri Nieset 6k-22:26, Uriah Guthrie 8k-25:12, Weston Jokerst 8k-24:33, Hannah Meiser 6k-21:36, Audrey Boles 6k-22:48)."
"I tip my hat off to our freshmen men dependable to perform their 8k personal best effort on the day (Will from 26:18 to 25:44 and Ben Chance from 25:37 to 25:25) in their first-ever championship performance for the Salukis. There's a respect that comes with that. Also laudable is recognizing the consistency within their bandwidth shown by 3 of our top 5 women (Hannah Meiser, Britany Ziemer, and Audrey Boles) to run within 3-7 seconds of their lifetime best 6k effort ON the day for their teammates. I'm equally impressed by SIU medical student Britany Ziemer's jump from NCAA Division Three previously to fierce competitiveness in NCAA Division 1 this year with only two chances to practice her racing skill set, given medical school rules around allowable number of absences."
Â
Noteworthy is Hannah Meiser's growth from finishing 76th at the MVC cross country championships last year as a freshman in a then PR of 23:34 and 33rd this year as a sophomore in 21:36.Â
Coach Ramos on what the future will look like for the Saluki Cross Country Program.Â
"While acknowledging all of that, I'm an extremely competitive person as are many of these athletes within our squad, and we are hungry for more. It's on me to get them there as well as recruit to ensure we can cover the loss (to graduation) of our #2 on the men's side and #2,3, and 5 on the women's side."
Â
"We collectively support our athletes who gave their entire hearts today despite coming off of illness or adversities or powering through challenging majors or medical school, and yet also believe in the immense talents, gifts, and grit that many of our Salukis possess, and know there is more potential to extract out."Â
The race results can be seen below.
Men's 8K ResultsÂ
- Weston Jokerst – 35th | 24:33.80Â
- Uriah Guthrie – 55th | 25:12.60Â
- Ben Chance – 65th | 25:25.30Â
- Will Foltz – 71st | 25:44.40Â
- Ben Morgan – 89th | 32:48.50Â
- Hannah Meiser – 33rd | 21:36.60Â
- Hannah Eastman – 60th | 22:25.50Â
- Brianna Nieset – 61st | 22:25.90Â
- Audrey Boles – 70th | 22:43.50Â
- Britany Zeimer – 72nd | 22:46.30Â
- Riley Linville – 82nd | 23:28.90Â
- Brodie Denny – 85th | 23:58.20Â
- Kyla Engel – 93rd | 25:04.20Â
"I saw a lot of tenacity and grit out there on the course and I'm proud to lead the Dawgs."Â
Â
Full race results can be seen here.Â
Â
UP NEXTÂ
The Salukis will have two weeks to regroup for the NCAA Regionals in Peoria, Ill., Friday, Nov. 15.Â
Â
FOLLOW THE SALUKISÂ
For the latest updates on the Salukis, follow the team on X (@SIUTrackXC), Instagram (@SIUTrackXC) and Facebook (@SalukiTrackAndField).
Â
Players Mentioned
/ Cross Country
/ Cross Country
/ Cross Country
/ Cross Country
/ Cross Country
/ Cross Country
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