UE Invite Overall Women's 5-K Results (PDF)
UE Invite Overall Men's 8-K Results (PDF)

EVANSVILLE, Ind.—The visiting Southern Illinois University Salukis stole the show Saturday at the seventh-annual University of Evansville Cross Country Invitational, as SIU won both the men’s and women’s overall team titles in the 22-team meet at the UE Cross Country Course in Evansville.

On the men’s side, Southern Illinois, which received Top 30 attention in the most recent USTFCCCA national poll on Tuesday, took home the top four individual spots in the meet en route to a team total of 31 points, while the SIU women totaled 50 points to place first overall.  The host Evansville Purple Aces placed seventh out of 22 teams on the men’s side, and 12th out of 22 teams on the women’s side, anchored by numerous personal-best times on both sides.

“Overall, I’m really pleased with how both teams ran,” said UE head coach Don Walters.  “The competition today was fierce, and there were great times across the board, but for a good number of our runners to go out and ‘P.R.’ is great.  Hopefully, this meet will give us some momentum heading into the conference championships in two weeks.”

Junior Greg Pulscher (Colorado Springs, Colo./Liberty) posted the top individual finish by a Purple Ace on the afternoon, placing 20th out of 231 runners with a personal-best 8-K time of 25:14.31.  He was joined in UE’s top five on the men’s side by junior Brian Joyce (41st-25:50.82), sophomore Brian Denny (53rd-26:04.64), junior Steven Matthews (97th-26:51.64), and redshirt sophomore Nicholas Tyree (99th-26:53.12), as UE’s top three all set new personal-best times in the 8-K event.

On the women’s side, three of Evansville’s top five set new personal-best standards, led by true freshman Lauren Schaftlein’s mark of 19:09.45, good for 47th out of 188 runners.  Seniors Franny Enzler (57th-19:19.40) and Megan Bowlds (76th-19:45.81) also set new personal marks in the women’s 5-K as part of UE’s top five, which also included sophomore Melissa Truex (59th-19:23.02) and junior Arrena Svoboda (88th-20:00.94).

Southern Illinois’ Dan Dunbar took home individual honors in the men’s 8-K with a winning time of 24:26.08.  Meanwhile, University of Southern Indiana standout Mary Ballinger outpaced the field in the women’s 5-K event with a winning time of 17:18.67.

Evansville will take next week off from competition, before racing in the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Championships in Springfield, Missouri on Saturday, November 1.