Three SIU men’s runners finished in the top 5 as the men’s and women’s cross-country teams opened their season Friday at the Saluki Early Bird meet.

Senior T.J Heffernan finished first with a time of 12:43.93. Junior Cole Allison finished third at 13:01.25 and junior Kulayifi Haji, finished in fifth place with a time of 13:38.44.

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The Salukis were joined by Rend Lake College, where the runners ran a co-ed 4K-mile race around SIU’s home field.

Last season, the SIU men’s runners were Missouri Valley Conference champions. This year, the men are hoping for a repeat. Cole Allison said connecting as teammates is the least of their worries. He said his team is a family, and everyone has their own way of showing their leadership qualities.

“Everybody on our team has leadership qualities, which is going to help us out by the end of the season,” Allison said. “Every team has their faults, but SIU, we are always the ones who take care of them early.”

Individually, Cole said he hopes to develop as a runner mentally and physically.

“The biggest part of running is your attitude,” he said. “As a runner, I need to definitely work on my attitude.”

Senior, Alyssa Allison, sister to 3rd place finisher Cole Allison was the first woman to finish the Early Bird race. Alyssa Allison finished the co-ed race in 14th place with a time of 15:16.47.

Alyssa Allison said she has been trying new things for this season.

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“Coach (Matt) Sparks took me on a different route this year, where I’ve been doing faster interval workouts,” she said. “Last season I wasn’t running as quick in some of the workouts, so this year we decided to try something different.”

Alyssa Allison is one of the older women on the team and said she considers herself as one of the leaders.

“A lot of the girls come to me with questions or advice,” she said. “Coach Sparks is our head coach, but sometimes the girls want to come to another female to talk. So I like to see myself as a veteran.”

Last season, Alyssa Allison’s teammate, sophomore Kelley Gallagher wasn’t able to compete due to injuries. This year, she is healthy, and said she is running strong, and looking forward to this season.

“Individually I am hoping to be better this season, and I am looking forward to meets,” she said. “I am a veteran this year, and since we have older girls I feel that we will be better as a team.”

Sparks said the biggest thing they try to adjust every year is the intensity and the speed of the workouts his teams do to try and get faster as runners.

Sparks said he is hoping to pick up where he left off last year.

“The men were conference champions last year, and we want to follow suit again this year,” he said. “The women went third a year ago, so we would like to battle for a conference title on the women’s side as well.”

The Salukis’ will travel to Charleston Friday as they compete at the EIU Walt Crawford Open for their first official meet of the season.