The Saluki cross-country team swept its opening meet last month, but couldn’t find the same success at the Notre Dame Invitational.

Senior Michael Castel led the men’s team to a third-place finish. Castel ran a time of 24:02.5, more than 30 seconds behind the winner, Senior Luis Vargas from Elon University. Castel’s time was good for third place individually. Senior Juan Carrera ran a 24:03.9 to finish in fourth and Junior Oscar Medina ran a 24:06.3 to round out the top-five.

The Salukis finished 16^th out of 20 teams in the women’s race. Junior Kelley Gallagher led the Salukis with a 40th place finish, she ran a time of 17:00.7. Senior Sadie Darnell finished 53rd with a time of 17:09.7 and Junior Krista Menghini finished 67th with a time of 17:16.2.

All of the Saluki runners improved their individual times from the Saluki Invitational.

The cross-country team will look to rebound at their next event, the ISU Pre-National Invitational at 10 a.m. on Oct. 18 in Terre Haute, Ind.

Brent Meske can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @brentmeskeDE.