Katie Meehan’s performance Saturday was just as dominating as the football team’s was Thursday night.

She jumped out to a commanding lead and coasted to an easy first-place finish at the Saluki Fast Start Open Saturday morning by 34 seconds with a time of 14:42.98.

Marian Appiah-Kubi finished second for the Salukis and third overall with a time of 15:26.56.

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Jen Burke placed second overall and first for Southeast Missouri State University in the unscored meet.

Meehan used the lay of the land to open the lead that eventually enabled her to cruise to the victory.

“I took the lead at about the mile,” Meehan said of her 4-kilometer run. “I used the hills to my advantage and ran with it from there. I’m not a frontrunner, so it takes a while to get up to the front where I like to be. I just take my time, move slowly and have a good time doing it.”

Perhaps it was the number seven she wore for the race, but her coach, Matt Sparks, said it was all in the execution.

“I was happy the way Katie ran, especially with the pretty easy win,” Sparks said. “That was the strategy going in. To run up the group the first mile, then let loose from the first mile to the second mile, then pull away and relax the last 800 meters of the race. She executed it perfectly.”

Appiah-Kubi has not run in a cross country event in years but is a member of the track team.

“This is my first formal cross country meet,” Appiah-Kubi said. “I ran with the boys in high school, but I don’t think that counts for anything.”

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Appiah-Kubi passed Kris Woolf of Southeast Missouri State University in the last 200 meters to take third place.

“She trained a lot in the summer to get ready for the track season,” said Sparks, “so we figured if she’s this fit, let’s let her run the cross country meet. The big kick in the last 200 really paid off being a sprinter.”

Erin Simone (15:55.33) finished seventh and Ty Davis (16:14.79), running in her first college race, finished 10th overall. Jodi Huddleston rounded out the Salukis’ top five, clocking in at 16:16.40, which was good enough for 11th place.

“Our sprinters really came through,” Sparks said. “We normally run five or 6K. Today’s race was a 4K. I think it really played well into the hands of the sprinter-middle-distance type people.”

SIU will take this weekend off as it prepares for the Missouri Cross Country Challenge, which will take place on Sept. 14 in Columbia, Mo.

Reporter Christopher Morrical can be reached at [email protected]