With a week off to rest, Saluki cross-country coaches said their teams are ready to compete at the Auburn Invitational this Saturday.

Both teams had disappointing races on Sept. 16th due to tired legs, according to both coaches after the meet.

The men were defeated by both the Wildcats of Arizona and the Fighting Illini of Illinois in Champaign, while the women placed ninth in the Midwest Invitational meet in Parkside, Wis.

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Both teams had hoped to perform better than they did. Men’s coach Bill Cornell expected to compete strongly against the Illini and PAC-10 powerhouse Arizona, and women’s coach Don DeNoon predicted a third place finish for the harriers.

DeNoon said although the women tired quickly because of intense training, he had not let up on his training schedule.

Some of our kids ran 60 miles over the off-week, he said. Some of the kids need to get a little tougher, and need to decide who’s injured.

DeNoon said nine of the 10 runners he is taking to Auburn are healthy, but he would not comment on who the one was.

We’ll let them guess on that one, he said.

One of those runners going to Auburn, freshman Sharlene Downing, said Wednesday that she was excited to run at Alabama.

I can’t wait, she said. The last two meets I haven’t run like I wanted to.

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Cornell said his team has practiced hard during the off week as well, but he could tell some of the runners legs were getting tired on Wednesday.

I hope we’re ready. We’ve bee training hard all the way through, he said. Their legs were a little weary, and I hope with two days off, they’ll get that spring back in their legs.

While the SIUC men are ranked third in District 5 of the NCAA, the Dawgs need to do well this weekend to gain the attention of the Top 25 poll.

It’s important to do good this weekend I think, Cornell said. There are some highly recognized teams down there. I sent a copy of our results against Kansas (ranked 23) to all the coaches who have teams in the Top 25. We beat them pretty soundly, so I hope they get the message.

DeNoon said the lineup for the meet looks like a list of football powerhouses. Some of the schools taking part in the meet include:Alabama, Florida, North Carolina, St. Johns, Tennessee, Clemson, Georgia Tech, LSU, Ole Miss, and Tulane.

Both coaches said they are not afraid of putting their teams up against tough competition.

We’re running against class teams all the time, Cornell said. We might get beat more, but that’ll prepare us for the conference meet and the district championship.

DeNoon said he schedules his team for the toughest competition he can find.

I’m always looking for good competition, he said. I want the kids to run against the best.