Take Harry Caray out of broadcasting no 35-cent Budweisers for Cub fans.

Hard times are exactly what men’s track and field coach Bill Cornell and his team have been going through this year. Many of his athletes have spent more time in the trainer’s room than on the track.

I could name the long list of injuries, or I could make it easier and just tell you who is competing. The contagious injury-bug has spread like a disease from Outbreak, but Dustin Hoffman is not here with the vaccine.

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We’ll start with the No. 1-ranked high jumper in the Missouri Valley Conference, senior Neophytos Kalogerou. Kalogerou has jumped as high as 7 feet 3 inches but has been out since the first meet of the season at Illinois State University (torn Achilles tendon).

Kalogerou’s absence costs the Salukis 10 points a meet.

If that is not enough, the Salukis are also without top long jumper and sprinter senior Orlando McKee (foot injury).

McKee jumped 24 feet 7 3/4 inches last season, which would be good enough for first place in all but one meet this season when Cameron Howard of Tennessee State University jumped 24 feet 11 3/4 inches at the Saluki Booster Club Invite Jan. 17.

McKee’s absence costs the Salukis at least 10 points a meet.

Other injuries affecting the team have been distance runner junior Joseph Parks (Achilles tendon), one of the premiere 5,000-meter runners in the conference. He is out for the season. Sophomore Andy Bosak’s (stress fracture) status is still week to week, and there are a series of minor injuries that come meet in and out.

These injuries cost the Salukis 10 to 20 points a meet.

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Saturday, the Indiana Invitational was a new meet with new injuries to deal with. The new additions to the injured list are juniors Romante Archer (hamstring) and Elliot Young (shin splints). On a positive note, the injuries do not look season ending.

Injuries have cost the Salukis 30 to 40 points a meet. It is almost impossible to stay in contention by giving up so much each meet. The Salukis are handicapped each meet by going in knowing they do not have their best athletes competing.

In five meets this season, the Salukis have finished as high as second in two of the meets without its top competitors. However, as the Missouri Valley Conference Championships Feb. 27 and 28 at Illinois State University draw closer, the competition will grow tougher, and the injuries and inexperience will take its toll.

Are these injuries all physical, or is there a psychological aspect to the wrath of injuries? It’s tough to say.

Regardless, the indoor season could be a loss, but maybe the fresh spring air of the outdoor season will revitalize the Dawgs’ walking wounded and put a stop to the continuous plague of injuries.