Cross Country Travels To SIU Saluki Invite

CHARLESTON, Ill – Eastern Illinois cross country returns to action this Saturday for their second meet of the season. The Panther men and women will travel south to compete in the SIU Saluki Invite in Carbondale, Ill., at 10 a.m.

The Panther men will be led by senior Brad Butler who placed sixth at the EIU Panther Invite on Sept. 12. EIU will be missing two of its top seven runners in Jason Springer and Nic Kuczwara as they will skip this meet to continue training for the remainder of the season. EIU placed third in its home meet behind Southern Illinois and Southeast Missouri. Both of those squads will be among the teams set to compete this week. Also in attendance will be OVC members Murray State and SIU Edwardsville.

The EIU women will also hold out several key runners for the SIU meet. Caitlin Napoleoni who was the top EIU finisher at the Panther Invite and Erika Foltys will both miss this weekend’s action. Junior Erin O’Grady should be the top EIU runner in the field following a 27th place finish two weeks ago.

“We are looking forward to the SIU meet but are most concerned with having our squads ready for Notre Dame, Evansville and the championship meets in November,” said EIU cross country coach Geoff Masanet. “We are trying to make decisions for a meet like SIU that will get some individuals and ultimately our team ready to race the best at those upcoming meets.”

One note on the schedule is that EIU will by-pass the Oklahoma State Jamboree set for October 4 and instead travel within in the region to compete at the Notre Dame Invite on Friday, Oct. 3 at 2 p.m.

This week’s men’s field contains two schools currently ranked in the Top 15 Regional rankings. Southern Illinois is 8th while Southeast Missouri is 13th.