The University of Evansville cross country teams will reach the mid-point of their season on Saturday morning, as the Purple Aces will travel to Carbondale, Illinois to take part in the six-team Saluki Invitational.  The women’s 5-K race will begin the meet at 10:00 a.m., with the men’s 8-K race set to follow.

 

Saturday’s meet will be the fourth race of the year for the Purple Aces, who are coming off of seventh and tenth-place finishes at the Indiana Intercollegiate Championships on the women’s and men’s sides respectively. The Aces have just over a month until the annual State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Championships, so this Saturday will begin an important stretch for the Aces.

 

“The women are ready and healthy to run coming off the great performance last week, but the men may be without two of the top 5 this weekend,” said UE head coach Don Walters. “It’s just that time of the year when the little aches and pains start to creep in and we need to run through them. This week will gives us one more race to tighten things up and start preparing for the conference meet that’s just a few weeks away. We had a good showing last week and I expect all the same this week in Carbondale”

 

Evansville will race against MVC foe Southern Illinois on Saturday, as well as Washington University-St. Louis, Benedictine-Springfield, Culver-Stockton, Kaskaskia College, and McKendree University. Washington is ranked second and fourth nationally on the men’s and women’s sides respectively.