Both the men’s and women’s teams had good enough finishes at the cross-country Missouri Valley Conference Championship to extended their seasons.

They will advance to NCAA Midwest Regionals, which is familiar territory. The Salukis have qualified every year since 2000.

Both teams had successful regionals last season with the women finishing fourth and the men 11^th.

The women’s team will return with the same team as last season.

“I think we are actually better than last year,” junior Kristen Levi said. “The results might not show it, but we’ve improved overall and I think we will have success at regionals again. The rest of the conference got stronger as well. So I don’t think it’s anything we did wrong.”

Levi had success at last year’s regional where she was the top Saluki runner at the event, finishing 21^st.

Junior Kelley Gallagher has been the Salukis’ top runner all year, finishing first on the team in all but one event. She finished 22^nd at least year’s NCAA regional, second best of the Salukis.

Gallagher and Levi earned honorable mentions for this year’s women’s Missouri Valley All-Conference team with 12^th and 15^th place finishes.

Until the MVC Championship race, junior Krista Menghini had not led any events this year, but with her 10^th place finish she earned herself an All-Conference honor.

“We worked our butts off at the MVC Championships,” Menghini said. “I think I can keep running well to help the team, but we’re going to work hard and be ready to compete for regionals. I’m excited for it.”

Senior Sadie Darnell will return after finishing third-best on the team last season.

She was named to the All-Conference team last year but finished 17^th in this year’s MVC Championship. This was the first event of the year that Darnell was not among the top-three runners for the Salukis.

Seniors Mobola Rotibi, Tori Parry and Lacey Gibson, who all contributed to last season’s success will all return to the team as well.

The women’s team will face MVC opponents Bradley and Illinois State at regionals.

Bradley is led by 2014 Women’s Coach of the Year Willy Wood, who started coaching at Bradley this season. He previous held the head coach position at Columbia for 20 years. There, he produced two Olympians, coached 29 All-Americans and led the team to eight Ivy League titles.

The team will return to regionals with six of the seven members of last year’s seventh-place team.

The Braves won the MVC Championship behind the efforts of race winner junior Caitlin Busch, senior Emily Delvo and junior Kristen Busch who were all named All-Conference.

Illinois State will have three runners back from last season’s 11^th place team at NCAA Regionals.

Senior Kim Christensen, junior Haley Goers and junior Kelley McShea finished 37^th, 68^th and 103^rd at regionals last year.

The Redbirds finished second at the MVC Championships behind All-Conference runners McShea, Christensen and sophomore Ariel Michalek who finished 3^rd, 8^th and 9^th respectively.

The SIU men’s cross-country team reached the NCAA regional by finishing second at the MVC Championship.

“Second place is a little disappointing, but we’re moving on,” junior Juan Carrera said. “We wanted to come out strong and win the event, but we didn’t. We’ll be ok though.”

The team will return three of the seven runners who were on the team that finished 11^th at regionals last year. The team included senior Nick Schrader and juniors Oscar Medina and Juan Carrera.

Carrera and senior Michael Castel led the team in all the events and all earned All-Conference honors this season. Castel transferred to SIU from Western Illinois University this year, and quickly became one of the top runners on the team.

“The men have been running really well all year,” head coach David Beauchem said. “This is kind of where you would expect them to be.”

The men will face tough competition from MVC opponents Bradley and Indiana State.

Indiana State did not make the regionals last season but finished first at the MVC Championships.

Junior John Mascari led Indiana State. Mascari was named the Athlete of the Year award for the MVC. He won the MVC Championship race and finished fifth at the ISU Pre-National Invitational.

Bradley was favored to win the MVC in a coach’s poll taken before the event. The team finished third behind Indiana State and SIU. They will return all their runners from last year’s team that placed 13^th at regionals.

Senior Eric Delvo returns after finishing 38^th at the regional meet last season. Delvo has led the team this year and finished fifth at the MVC Championship, earning him an All-Conference honor. He recorded a team-high 46^th place finish at the ISU Pre-National Invitational.

Bradley also has MVC Freshman of the Year Michael Ward on its team. He finished 21^st at the MVC Championships, fourth-best on the team.

Defending regional champions Oklahoma State will return to the NCAA Midwest regional, with the same team that finished fourth at last year’s regionals.

Juniors Craig Nowak and Kirubel Erassa return from ninth and 10^th place finishes at the regional last season. Senior Shane Moskowitz will return to regionals this year after a 40^th place finish last season.

The 2014 NCAA Regional Championship will take place at noon on Nov. 14 in Peoria on the campus of Bradley University.

Brent Meske can be reached at bmeske@dailyegyptian, on Twitter @brentmeskeDE or at 536-3311 ext. 269.