Men's Cross Country In Pre-National Meet
10/16/2003 | 12:00:00 | Cross Country
Oct. 16, 2003
By Josh Magill
www.SIUSalukis.com
CARBONDALE, Ill. - The men's cross country team, having lost to only one team this season, has not cared about polls and rankings this year, but each member knows that a good showing at this weekend's NCAA Pre-Nationals meet is important to their future.
"Rankings don't mean nothing," says sophomore Joe Byrne, last week's Saluki Invite winner. "We knew we were better than these teams (that were picked ahead of us in preseason), so we don't really take notice of what the rankings say."
"Last week's win will give us a lot of confidence," adds Byrne. "It gives us a platform to build upon for the Pre-Nationals. This team is running well, it's not just a five man team, everyone has come on leaps and bounds this season."
The Salukis, ranked #12 in the Midwest Region, have been placed in the 8,000 meter Purple Race at the Pre-Nationals, held in Waterloo, Iowa, running against such nationally ranked schools as #1 Stanford, #4 BYU, #6 Central Michigan, #10 Iona College and #13 Michigan. SIU will also be competing against Missouri Valley foes Drake and Wichita State.
"Going (to Pre-Nationals) and knocking off teams that are ranked higher than us is going to give us confidence going into the conference meet," said junior Eli Baker. "We knew the preseason ranking of number six wasn't an accurate poll, and of course we showed that in our first meet defeating Northern Iowa and Illinois State."
Both Baker and Byrne, who hold the MVC's third and fourth best times this season, respectively, along with senior Doron Giat and junior Tony LaChiana look to boost SIU toward the regional and national meets with a good showing this weekend. LaChiana stepped up last weekend keeping his eight-kilometer time under 26 minutes, as he had hoped, to help SIU win the Saluki Invitational.
The men's Purple Race is scheduled to begin Saturday, Oct. 18, at 11:00 a.m., while the Gold Race will begin at 11:40 a.m. The Pre-Nationals meet will be held at Irv Warren Memorial Golf Course. Results can be found at www.SIUSalukis.com.
