SIUC senior John Raski is ready for the Saluki golf team to break the marker separating them from success.

Raski and his teammates took a step toward that goal by opening their 1998 spring season with an impressive fifth-place finish at the Pepsi/Southwest Missouri State Challenge in Springfield, Mo., Tuesday.

SIUC fired rounds of 306, 326 and 318 for a three-round total of 950. In the process, the Salukis finished ahead of six other Missouri Valley Conference schools:Northern Iowa (952), Illinois State (956), SMSU (960), Bradley (1,004), Creighton (1,006) and Evansville (1,012).

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We’ve been waiting for a finish like that for two years, Raski said. And when we got there and we were able to do it, we were expecting better because we could have played a lot better than we did.

The win was especially sweet for the Salukis, as SIUC finished eighth in the MVC Championships last spring. Only Bradley finished with a higher score than the Salukis at last year’s championships.

SIUC’s finish also marked a tie with its best performance in the fall season. SIUC finished fifth out of 13 teams at the Northern Iowa Fall Classic Oct. 3-4.

They’ve been killing us for the past two years, and we came out and did that and opened their eyes a little bit, Raski said. We have so much potential this year I wouldn’t be surprised if all of us put it together and we won the Valley.

Sophomore Garrett Steigman paced the Salukis with a 234 and a 10th-place finish overall, followed closely by Raski at 239 and 30th overall.

Steigman’s performance was his best of the season, while Raski had another consistent performance dating back to his steady play during the fall. Raski led the Salukis individually in four of their five fall tournaments.

I was very proud of Garrett, and that’s awesome for him to do that, Raski said. Garrett’s 78 was the third-lowest score of the day, and that says a lot out of 100 guys.

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Junior Craig Castrale finished right behind Raski with a 240 while junior Phil Boeckmann (243) and junior Kory Neisen (245) rounded the Salukis’ efforts.

The conditions were terrible, and really par was about 76, Saluki coach Leroy Newton said. They worked hard and played pretty good. We passed a lot of schools the last day and still gave a lot of shots away.

Despite the solid showing, Castrale said 36 holes on the opening day led to SIUC’s disappointing second-round score.

After the first round, we were tied fourth, and then we got a little tired, Castrale said. Most of the teams we played with had played in two tournaments this spring, and that was our first go at it. That’s why I think we got a little tired in the second round of the first day because we hadn’t played 36.

Arkansas State captured the team title with a 920 after beating Iowa State (920) on the first hole of a playoff. Drake (928) finished third while Oral Roberts (941) wrapped up fourth.

Arkansas State’s Zolton Veress earned medalist honors by firing a 217 while Drake’s Ben Pettitt (221) took second and Iowa State’s Matt Lewis (225) wrapped up third.

The Salukis travel to Jonesboro, Ark., for the Arkansas State Indian Classic Monday and Tuesday. The competition will be familiar for Newton’s squad, as the top three finishers in Springfield will be in the Arkansas State field.

For now, Newton’s goal is to build the team’s confidence level with solid play in preparation for conference play.

Nebraska will be there, plus we still have to play Drake, Iowa State and Arkansas State, Newton said. Winning it is not really realistic, but if we can finish in the top seven, we will continue to improve.

SIUC travels to Jonesboro, Ark., for the Arkansas State Indian Classic Monday and Tuesday.