The Saluki men’s cross-country team may go against some of its toughest competition yet as the squad travels to Champaign-Urbana to take on the Universities of Arizona and Illinois Saturday.

Arizona placed third in the NCAA championship and won the PAC-10, while the Fighting Illini captured fourth in the Big-10 last season.

Arizona head coach Dave Murray said he is confident about his team’s ability to win.

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We should do well, but we’re going to have to work on keeping our top five runners together close to the front, he said. I don’t know how good Southern Illinois is, but I know U of I is improved over last year. We defeated them (Illinois) last year pretty big, but we won a lot last year.

SIUC coach Bill Cornell said this will be a big meet for his young team.

This will be the twins (Jeremy and Joseph Parks) first five mile race for cross-country, he said. I really hope the three freshmen can stay close to Stelios (Marneros). He’s a good runner to key in on, he judges paces well, and he’s got a lot of experience. I had the freshmen sleep in Tuesday morning to give them a rest. They were working themselves too hard on the easy days.

Cornell said the key for the Salukis is not to be intimidated by the competition.

We’ve gotta get out and run with the competition. We can’t be scared of them, he said. I don’t think we’ve got to be scared against anyone. I’ve never shyed away from top-notch competition. We still have to make a go at Arizona.

University of Illinois coach Gary Wieneke said this meet should be a good one.

This is going to be a pretty air-tight meet, he said. You guys (SIUC) beat us last year, so we’re just going to see what happens. When SIU and Illinois get together it’s always a natural rivalry.

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Wieneke also said his team has to get out in front early to have a chance to win.

Our weakness a year ago was being able to get people out front with the leaders, he said.

Cornell said Murray has good reason to be confident about this meet.

They finished third last year in the NCAA’s, and I’m sure he expects to do just as well this year, he said. They’re obviously a very talented team.