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The 2015 Ohio Valley Conference Cross Country Championship will be run on Saturday at Miller Memorial Golf Course in Murray, Kentucky. The women's 5K race will begin at 9:00 a.m. CT with the men's 8K race following at 10 a.m.
This marks the first time the championship has been held in Murray since 2003. The meet is free and open to the public.
This will be the 54th OVC men's championship, as the first one was held in 1962. Eastern Kentucky has won the most OVC Championships (23), including the last nine in a row and 10 of the last 11. EKU has had the individual champion in each of the last 11 years.
The women's championship will be determined for the 37th time this year. Eastern Kentucky has won 28 of the previous 36 championships, including each of the past three seasons.
The OVC Athletes and Freshmen of the Year, which are determined by coaches vote, will be announced on Friday night at an awards banquet while the Coach of the Year, Athletes of the Championship and All-OVC honors will be presented following Saturday's Championship.
Men's Preview
Eastern Kentucky, the nine-time defending champion, enters Saturday's race as the favorites as they have been ranked nationally this season, including coming in at No. 22 this week. The team has qualified for the NCAA Championship in each of the past four years, the second-longest stretch for a program in league history. After finishing a school record 15th place in 2013 the program was 23rd at the NCAAs a season ago, its second-highest finish ever. The Colonels have been led by freshman
Erick Rotich who has earned OVC Runner of the Week honors after each of his three races this fall. Included in that was a 24th place finish out of 244 runners at the Wisconsin adidas Invitational in a field that included 17 nationally-ranked teams; in that meet he recorded the top 8K time in the OVC this season (23:55.8). The team also has junior
Ambrose Maritim who won the OVC Championships a season ago after finishing second as a freshman in 2013.
Belmont, ranked No. 12 in the South Region entering this week, has finished in the Top 5 of each of its first three OVC Championships since joining the league. This season they have been paced by freshman
Declan McManus who has been the team’s top runner in three of four meets in 2015. In the team’s last meet before the OVC Championship it was another freshman,
Kaleb McLeod, who was the team’s top finisher, placing 29th at the Crimson Classic in Tuscaloosa.
For the first time since the 2012 season the Eastern Illinois men’s team is regionally ranked, coming in at No. 15 in the Midwest in the latest poll. The Panthers gained that regional ranking after a strong performance at the Bradley Pink Classic where they were sixth among a competitive field of 26 squads. Junior
Riley McInerney has been named OVC Runner of the Week twice this season and has the fourth-best 8K time in the league this season (24:28.4). He was 15th at the OVC Championship a season ago. Overall the Panthers have won seven OVC Championships with the last coming in 2005.
Tennessee Tech was regionally ranked earlier in the season and has made strides under second-year head coach
Wayne Angel. Junior
Geoffrey Sambu was sixth at the OVC Championship a season ago, the highest finish for a Tech runner since 1995. In his last race he was 49th overall at the Crimson Classic.
A season ago Morehead State finished second at the OVC Championship, the team’s top finish since 2006. Overall the team has now finished in the top four at the past five OVC Championship events. Senior
Jorge Gil-Juarez netted the fourth-best 8K time in MSU history at the NCAA Pre-Nationals Meet two weeks ago, finishing the course in 24:44.3, which ranks as the 10th-best time in the OVC this season. Gil-Juarez was 28th overall at that event which included a very competitive field. He is looking to improve on a 25th place finish at last year’s OVC Championship.
First-year head coach
Peter Dalton has seen marked improvement with his UT Martin squad in 2015 including a team victory at the Evansville Invitational in its last meet prior to the OVC Championship. Junior
Alvaro Olmos ran the seventh-fastest 8K time in Skyhawk history in that meet (26:16.5) while junior
Joey DeSantis covered the course in the ninth-best time in program history (26:21.7). Earlier this season freshman
Bill Kinyor earned OVC Runner of the Week honors after finishing third in a field of 199 competitors at the Rhodes Invitational; he was the first UTM runner to win that weekly honor since the 2011 season.
After finishing in the Top three at each OVC Championship from 2008 to 2012, Southeast Missouri State is looking to break back into the top quarter of the standings and improve on a sixth place finish from 2014. Junior
Marc Maton, who was 34th at the OVC Championship last season, earned OVC Runner of the Week honors on September 22 after placing 20th in a field of 213 at the Vanderbilt Commodore Classic which included four total OVC programs. He has been the Redhawks top finisher in each meet this fall.
In just its third-ever OVC Championship a season ago SIUE had its best-ever finish placing third overall in the event held in Oxford, Alabama. This season the Cougars after coming off a strong showing at the Bradley Pink Classic that saw junior
Keith Meyer break the school record in the 8K with a mark of 24:32.2 (the seventh-fastest overall time in the OVC this year). Meyer, who was 13th at the OVC Championship last year, broke the school record previously established by
Clint Kliem at last year’s OVC event. Kliem, now a senior, is looking for another solid OVC finish after placing 19th as a freshman, 10th as a sophomore and eighth a year ago.
Host Murray State has finished eighth at the past two OVC Championships. This season the team looks to sophomore
Mark Ventura who has led the team in three of its four races this fall.
Freshman
Wesley Gray has had an impressive rookie campaign for Austin Peay including setting a freshman record at the Cross Country Only Invitational last time out in Richmond, Virginia. Gray finished the five mile course in 25:45.6 to place seventh overall. Junior
Daniel Hamm was the team’s top finisher at the OVC Championship a season ago (47th).
Jacksonville State is led by junior
Stephen Payne who has been the Gamecocks top runner in all five 2015 meets including a second place finish at the Mercer Invitational in late September. Payne was 63rd at the OVC Championship a season ago.
Junior
Quamel Prince has been Tennessee State’s top finisher at each of the past two OVC Championships and looks to lead the Tigers again this weekend.
Women's Preview
Eastern Kentucky enters the OVC Championship ranked No. 4 in the Southeast Region. The Colonels have won the team championship each of the past three years, including by wide margins each of the past two years. In its last meet the Colonels finished 20th out of 45 teams at a deep NCAA Pre-Nationals meet in Louisville, finishing ahead of two nationally-ranked teams and several regionally-ranked squads. After graduating two of its top three runners from last season, EKU has been paced by freshman
Charlotte Imer in 2015 as the newcomer has earned a pair of OVC Runner of the Week awards and owns the top 4K (14:25.32), second-best 5K (17:12.72) and top 6K (20:45.3) times in the Conference this season. Senior
Anna Reddin returns after registering a pair of Top 6 finishes in the last two OVC Championships, including third a season ago.
Belmont enters this weekend’s OVC Championship ranked No. 11 in the South Region. In its three OVC Championship since joining the league the Bruins have finished second, second and third overall. Belmont will be led by senior
Hannah Wittman who looks to earn her first OVC individual title to cap her brilliant career. Wittman was 14th as a freshman in 2012, third in 2013 and second last season, just two seconds behind the winner. This year the senior has earned OVC Runner of the Week honors after each of her three races, including after finishing 10th at the Greater Louisville Classic in a field of 213 runners; in that race she ran an OVC-best 5K time of 17:12.72, which is nearly eight seconds better than anybody else in the league this season. Sophomore
Jessica King, who was 11th at the OVC Championship last year, was the team’s top finisher two weeks ago at the Crimson Classic (when Wittman did not compete).
Eastern Illinois, the 2011 OVC Champions, was the top OVC finisher at the Bradley Pink Classic two weeks ago. The Panthers are paced by sophomore
Maria Baldwin, who was the 2014 OVC Freshman of the Year and who finished 14th at the OVC Championship last year. Baldwin has the seventh-best 5K time in the OVC this season (17:44.5), which came at the Notre Dame Invitational in early October. Junior
Emily Brelsfoard (9th) and senior
Victoria Quarton (13th) both finished in the Top 14 at the OVC Championship last year and return this season.
For the past 23 years the Southeast Missouri women's team has finished in the top half at the OVC Championship, including several second place finishes but the Redhawks have never claimed the top spot. A year ago the team finished fourth in Oxford, Alabama. Junior
Megan Parks has been the top performer for the Southeast Missouri team this year including a 31st place finish at the Bradley Pink Classic two weeks ago. Parks, who has the fifth-best 5K time in the OVC this year (17:34.77), was 17th at the OVC Championship a season ago. Freshman
Kaitlyn Shea has been a key contributor in her rookie season including finishing second overall at the Gabby Reuveni Early Bird in St. Louis in the first meet of the season and was scored 52nd at the Bradley Pink Classic in her last meet (where she recorded the ninth-best 6K time in the Conference in 2015).
Murray State has been paced by senior
Brittany Bohn in each race this season including a 17th place finish in the Gold Race at the Notre Dame Invitational on October 2. Sophomore
Megan Smith was MSU’s top finisher at the OVC Championship last season, where she finished 15th overall.
Freshman
Kansas Greenwell has been Morehead State’s top finisher in four of five meets this season. She also established the sixth-best 6K time in school history with a time of 22:38.6 at the NCAA Pre-Nationals two weeks ago. That marked the only race she was not the team’s top finisher as junior
Mackenzie Butler was eight seconds better in establishing the fifth-best time in MSU history (22:30.5).
UT Martin won the Evansville Invitational in its final tune-up for the OVC Championship. The team has had an influx of talent this season including junior
Ann Asipan, who has the seventh-best 5K time in the OVC this season (17:44.5), and freshman twins
Chantal and
Cherie Wilson. Chantal was named OVC Runner of the Week on September 29 after placing eighth in a field of 180 at the Rhodes Invitational in Memphis. The Skyhawks are looking to break the trend of finishing in the bottom three of the OVC Championship in 10 of the past 11 years; the team’s best finish was fourth in 1995.
After back-to-back eighth place finishes in its first two OVC Championship, SIUE moved up a spot a season ago in finishing seven overall. In the team’s last meet, the Bradley Pink Classic, junior
Erin Kennedy cut 45 seconds off her personal best in being the team’s top finisher, a spot she has held all season long.
Tennessee Tech has been paced by three different runners in five meets this season, most recently former JUCO All-American
Purity Murray who had a personal best at the Alabama Crimson Classic two weeks ago. Junior
Sarah Brandt and freshman
Jenna Storms have also led the team this season and look to help the team improve on a 10th place finish from each of the past two years.
Austin Peay’s
Jessica Gray was 25th at the OVC Championship a season ago and looks to improve on that finish in her final year in 2015. Gray has lowered her personal best twice this season including finishing as the runner-up at the Cross Country Only Invitational in Richmond, Virginia two weeks ago.
Junior
Ju-ells McLeod was Jacksonville State’s top finisher in every meet so far this season. After a 40th place finish at the OVC Championship as a freshman, she improved 10 spots a year ago.
Tennessee State will be paced by sophomore
Kenyana Hampton who was the team's top finisher in every meet this season including an eighth place finish at Florida A&M and an 16th place finish at Chattanooga. She was the team’s top finisher at the OVC Championship a season ago (64th).