Coming off a dominating 2007 season in which the Saluki men won the Missouri Valley Conference championship, the men and women cross country teams open their 2008 seasons with the SIU Early Bird today.

The meet, which will be not be scored, will give the team a chance to sit out some of its better runners while allowing its younger runners a chance to show their capabilities.

The University of Missouri enters Carbondale as the opponent, although the meet represents a chance for both programs to get in additional practice before the meets start to count. Mizzou finished sixth in the Big 12 Conference last season.

Advertisement

Head coach Matt Sparks said while the meet doesn’t have the same implications as the regular season meets, it will still be important for the younger runners to prove themselves.

Since the meet is not scored, three of SIU’s top runners – Jeff Schirmer, Dan Dunbar and Kyle Kirchner – will not compete.

“There’s more of a preseason feel about it,” he said. “It’s nice to have a Big 12 team like Missouri there to see how we stack up, though.”

SIU returns individual conference champion Jeff Schirmer, but also loses two of its top runners in Kevin Doran and Mohamed Mohamed from graduation and injury, respectively.

Schirmer said the meet is less about winning and more about seeing how the younger runners stack up against the competition.

“We’re only doing a 6K and we normally do an 8K,” he said. “We’re going out at a conservative pace for the first 3K, and the second half, coach wants to see what kind of speed the younger guys have.”

Jason Ordway and Kyle Kirchner will also be expected to carry a bulk of the load with Mohamed and Doran absent. Both finished in the top 20 at the MVC finals last season and should play major roles throughout the season.

Advertisement*

Sparks said the meet will give the team members a chance to challenge themselves in a way they haven’t yet because the team has only practiced with each other.

“This will be our first real taxing run of the year,” he said. “As far as being ready for the first meet, that’s the luxury of having this exhibition kickoff. We can see who’s ready and who’s not ready, then adjust from there.”

Meanwhile, the Saluki women return all their runners from a season ago, when SIU finished a disappointing seventh place in the MVC.

But Sparks said the experience gained during the last year should make the women significantly better this year.

Sparks said junior runner Toni Whitfield has made significant improvements to her long distance running and believes she could represent a valuable piece to the puzzle this season.

Whitfield said he believes the women are prepared to compete for one of the top positions in the MVC this season.

“We’re definitely ready to go,” she said. “We’ve been running all summer. There’s been several of us who have been here all summer and we’ve been running together.”

The meet kicks off at 5:30 p.m. with the women’s race, followed by the men’s event at 6:15 p.m.

Stile Smith can be reached at 536-3311 ext. 282 or [email protected].