The SIUC men’s cross country team captured the 10-team Saluki Invitational title Saturday for the fifth time in six years, despite the loss of sophomore runner Andy Bosak.

Jenny Monaco’s third-place finish was not enough to carry the SIUC women’s team, as it finished in fourth place out of 13 teams.

Bosak started the race, but after running the first two miles, he dropped out of the race because of an illness.

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I just felt bad and was too weak to continue, Bosak said. I don’t want to make myself any worse by trying to run when I’m not healthy.

The Salukis were anchored by juniors Joseph and Jeremy Parks. Joseph finished in first place with a time of 24 minutes and 39 seconds, while Jeremy came in third with a time of 25:34. The race featured 97 runners.

Saluki coach Bill Cornell said that along with the Parks’ finish, he also was impressed by sophomore Matt McClelland, who finished in fifth place with a time of 25:47.

Matt (McClelland) has ran well for the past two weeks, Cornell said. He really stepped up in the meet to help us.

Cornell said he was pleased about his team’s finish in the meet without Bosak.

Our game plan was for everyone to go out and run under five minutes for the first mile, he said, and try to maintain throughout the race and bring it home with what you’ve got left.

Sophomore Noam Darsa finished in 17th place with a time of 26:29, and freshman Chris Owen was in 18th place with a time of 26:30 to round out the Salukis’ top five and give them a team score of 44 points.

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Darsa, who ran a personal-best for the year, said the big home crowd of about 200 people inspired his effort.

I was very satisfied with my race, Darsa said. We were trying to show the home crowd what we could do.

The closest competition to the Salukis was Washington University with 73 points and Murray State University with 104 points.

Monaco was the only Saluki woman to finish in the top-10 in a meet congested of 114 runners. The race was won by Emily Richard of Washington University with a time of 17:41.

The Salukis’ second runner was freshman Marissa Jelks in 24th place with a time of 19:21.

I was pretty surprised with my finish, Jelks said. I just kept focusing on the person in front of me and tried to stay at a strong pace.

The women’s team finished with 111 points in fourth place. The meet was won by the University of Tennessee with 59 points, followed by the University of Southern Indiana with 92 points and Washington University with 107 points.

Other top runners for the Salukis were junior Leah Steele in 26th with a time of 19:24, senior Raina Larsen in 27th with a time of 19:25 and junior Tara Tormey in 31st with a time of 19:37.

Women’s coach Don DeNoon said the team did not have enough team depth to win the meet.

We ran tough, but we just got beat, DeNoon said. We didn’t have the No. 2 and 3 runners up high enough to contend.

The women’s team will be in action Saturday at Eastern Illinois University’s Big Blue Classic in Charleston, while the men will be out of action until Oct. 18 when they travel to Fayetteville, Ark., for the Chili Pepper Invite.