The heat took a toll on Eastern runners this weekend at the Saluki Invitational in Carbondale.

Sophomore Eric Pedersen said the heat was a huge factor in the race for the day and it had a definite effect on the results.

Southern Illinois Carbondale’s top runner, Mohamed Mohamed, finished more than a minute slower this year than he did at the same meet last year. Mohamed won this year’s meet in a time of 25 minutes, 33.99 seconds.

“Mohamed being that much slower this year on his home course just shows how tough the race was this weekend,” Pedersen said.

The men’s squad finished seventh of eight teams. Freshman Kevin Adamowski finished in 19th place in 27:27.70 seconds.

It was Adamowski’s first collegiate 8,000-meter race (4.97 miles). He was Eastern’s top finisher and was followed by Eric Pedersen, who came in 22nd with a time of 27:31.91.

“We knew going into it that we didn’t have everybody and that SIUC and some other teams were going to be strong,” Pederson said. “But we just went in wanting to pack it up and run together.”

The Panthers didn’t take the whole team to the Saluki Invitational in Carbondale this weekend because Eastern head coach Geoff Masanet is still having the Panthers train through their early meets.

Eastern women only ran four girls, so they were not able to put up a team score, but they did finish in a pack with senior Amy LeJeune in the lead with a time of 19:43.95.

LeJeune finished 15th overall with junior Katie O’Brien and freshman Caitlin Napoleoni finishing right behind her, in 16th and 17th place.