Tired legs and a lack of mental focus plagued SIUC’s cross-country teams Saturday as both bowed to their opponents in two different states.

The men lost to the universities of Arizona and Illinois in Champaign, and the women placed ninth in the Midwest Collegiate meet in Parkside, Wis.

Junior Stelios Marneros was the Salukis top performer finishing fourth, and freshmen Andrew Fooks and Jeremy Parks ran strong placing 10th and 13th.

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SIUC men’s coach Bill Cornell said his team had a case of tired legs from training hard during the week.

We worked hard during the week, and I think some of the weight training tired some of the guys out, Cornell said. Most of these guys are young and haven’t done weight training before.

Freshman Joseph Parks, who finished 22nd, said the hard training was a factor in his running.

I know my legs were tired at least, he said. I ran a good first mile and then my calves started getting tight. I’m sure we’ll get used to it (training) after a while, and I don’t think we should change anything.

Cornell said his team did what he asked of it, and he wasn’t disappointed in his squad.

They started out together like I asked them to, he said. They gave it their all, but they just didn’t have it. I told them I wasn’t disappointed, and that I understood the situation. It just wasn’t meant to be this weekend.

While the men licked their wounds in Champaign, the women were slightly intimidated by the size of the meet they ran in, according to junior co-captain Kim Koerner.

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I think we just need to get it together, she said. With such a young team, I think we got a little psyched-out with the size of the meet.

Freshman Colleen Bouck, who watched the race from the sidelines due to a case of the flu, said the team had a tough time keeping together at the beginning of the race.

There were probably 500 runners, and the first half mile was uphill, so it was tough to keep your spot, she said.

Koerner said the first half mile did separate the runners.

We got broke-up and kind of separated after the first half mile uphill, she said. It was a good, tough course.

Saluki women’s coach Don DeNoon said hard training was also a factor for his team, but his team didn’t run as well as he thought they would.

We trained very hard, and just left it on the practice course, he said. I thought we’d run at least a minute faster per runner.

DeNoon agreed with Bouck and Koerner, saying that the first half mile hurt the team.

I think they got into too much of an oxygen debt going up that first hill, he said. That hill took them away from each other.

Koerner said she, like the men, had some tired legs, but that was not the only problem.

I was a little sore, she said. But I really wasn’t into it mentally.

Co-captains Kelly French and Koerner were top finishers for the Salukis, placing 26th and 38th, but DeNoon said his team was not close to finishing better than eighth.

We weren’t even close to eighth place, he said. We were 84 points behind eighth and only 14 points from 10th.