Men’s and Women’s Cross Country Recap 16

Led by a combined effort from juniors Joseph and Jeremy Parks, the Saluki men’s cross country team opened the season with a first-place finish at home Saturday.

The men beat rival University of Kansas and Lindenwood College.

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The SIUC women’s team, led by sophomore Jenny Monaco, finished in second place behind Kansas and just ahead of Mississippi State University and Lindenwood.

On the men’s side, Joseph Parks found himself in an all-out sprint in the last 300 meters of the race with Lindenwood’s Sharif Karie in first place. Parks, however, could not push ahead of Karie and finished one-eighth of a second behind him for a second-place finish and a time of 24 minutes and 54.9 seconds.

I was trying to lose him (Karie) the whole race, but he is a good runner, and at the end he had a little more speed than I did, Joseph Parks said. I was still very pleased with my time, though. That was my best time I’ve ever ran on that course.

Not far behind Joseph was twin brother Jeremy, who finished in fourth place for the Salukis with a time of 25:18.4. Along with the twins, sophomore Andy Bosak finished in sixth place with a time of 25:54.2.

Bosak said the competition was solid preparation for the rest of the fall season.

I think the majority of the team was pleased with the race, Bosak said. The race was a good indicator for us to see where we’re at.

The men’s squad finished with a team score of 29 points, a distant margin over Kansas, who finished with 43 points. Lindenwood finished with 54 points.

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The championship finish was a good way to start the season, Saluki coach Bill Cornell said.

To win first place is a good start to the season, but we still have some things to improve on, Cornell said.

The other top finishers for the Salukis were sophomores Matt McClelland, in eighth place with a time of 26:07.1, and Eric Rushing, in ninth place with a time of 26:09.5.

While the men’s team finished first, the women’s team fell to the hands of Kansas, who had five top-10 finishers. The women finished with 50 points, behind Kansas’ 34 points. Mississippi State finished in third place with 60 points, and Lindenwood finished with a score of 82.

The women were led by Monaco, who finished in second place with a time of 18:37.4. Behind Monaco was senior Raina Larsen, who finished ninth with a time of 19:31.9.

Other top finishers for the women’s team were freshman Becky Cox in 12th place, sophomore Joy Cutrano in 13th and junior Leah Steele in 14th.

Cox said the Salukis’ freshmen-dominated team was able to successfully gain its first experience in college competition. The top three freshman finishers for the team were Cox, Sharuun Downing in 21st place and Marissa Jelks in 22nd place.

I think we did a good job for our first meet, Cox said. I didn’t know what to expect, so I was really happy with where I placed.

Downing said other obstacles the freshmen were introduced to were the running conditions and competition.

I thought it was difficult because I’m not use to running on grass, Downing said. It was an experience to run with college athletes. I’m not use to people pushing me to the extreme.

The women will compete in Peoria at the Bradley Invitational Friday, while the men will not face competition until Sept. 20 at the Eastern Illinois Invitational in Charleston.