An opportunity to continue winning, and a second chance at defeating Southern Indiana University is what SIUC’s cross-country teams have Saturday at the Martin Foods/ Saluki Invitational.

The 10 a.m. meet will be only the second meet at home for the Salukis, and the difference between the men’s and women’s seasons to this point is like night and day.

The men are coming off a quality fourth place finish out of 27 teams at the Auburn Invitational, and the women are trying to pull together a young team after a 10th place finish out of a field of 20, also at Auburn.

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SIUC women’s cross-country coach Don DeNoon eliminated his team’s morning runs earlier this week in an effort to sharpen his team mentally and give their legs a rest. The team usually runs in both the morning and the evening, and some of the runners have logged 60 miles in a week.

DeNoon said this invitational gives the Salukis a unique opportunity to redeem themselves for a loss to Southern Indiana earlier this season.

Southern Indiana is the team to beat, he said. I think they’re ranked 10th in Division II. They beat us once without Kelly French, and unless they’ve improved, we should run stride for stride with them.

French, the sophomore co-captain of the cross-country team from Berrie, Ontario, had a case of bronchitis during the opening weekend when SIUC hosted the University of Kansas and Southern Indiana on Sept. 2 and lost to both teams.

Since her return she has run close to her junior co-captain counterpart Kim Koerner, who has been the consistent leader of the team this season.

French said she considers this meet as a second chance for the team and herself.

I love running on the home course, so it was tough for me to miss the first meet here, she said. The team has a second chance. We are a lot more experienced now, so I think we’ll do better this time.

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The men, on the other hand, are continuing to prepare themselves for the Missouri Valley Conference meet. Junior Stelios Marneros was named the MVC Cross-country Athlete of the Week for the second time this season after his 4th place performance at the Auburn Invitational. Marneros’ time of 24:49 was his best of the season, and the second best of his career.

Cornell said the Salukis should do well in this meet, which consists of 13 men’s teams.

I think we are the favorites to win, team wise, if these are all the teams that show up, he said.

The men’s biggest competition could come from the universities of Arkansas-LittleRock and Kentucky, but DeNoon said the competition should be easy for the men.

What I’m seeing is almost a cakewalk for the men, he said.

French said the competition should be good for the women, but not to the extent of the past two meets where the harriers have placed in the middle of the pack at both the Midwest Invitational and the Auburn Invitational.

Just from what coach said, it should be fairly competitive, but not like we’ve been running against the past couple meets, she said.