• Championships Info Page | OVC Record Book
The 2018 Ohio Valley Conference Cross Country Championship will be run on Saturday at the Osage Center in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. The women's 5K race will begin at 9:00 a.m. CT with the men's 8K following at 10 a.m.
It marks the first time Southeast Missouri has hosted the event since 2008. The meet is free and open to the public. It will be a leashed-dog friendly event.
This will be the 58th OVC men's championship, as the first one was held in 1962. Eastern Kentucky has won the most OVC Championships (26), including the last 12 in a row and 13 of the last 14.
The women's championship will be determined for the 40th time this year. Eastern Kentucky has won 31 of the previous 39 championships, including each of the past six 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 12-time defending champion, enters Saturday's race as the favorites, ranked No. 19 nationally in the USTFCCCA Poll. The Colonels qualified for the NCAA Championship for five consecutive years (the second-longest stretch for a program in league history) before missing out the past two years. Sophomore newcomer
James Sugira has been dominant this season, winning a trio of OVC Runner of the Week awards and last time out winning the Penn State National Open. He also won the Commodore Classic and was fourth at the Wisconsin Nuttycombe Invitational (in a field that included 18 nationally-ranked teams).
Belmont enters the postseason ranked No. 4 in the South Region, one of three OVC teams who appear in the Top 15. The Bruins has been paced by freshman
Jacob McLeod, who has led the team in all four meets this season. McLeod won his collegiate debut race (the Belmont Opener), was sixth at the Louisville Invitational and in his last race placed 28th at the Pre-Nationals. Jacob’s brother, junior
Kaleb McLeod, has also been consistent this season and looking to improve on his 12th place finish at last year’s OVC Championship. Belmont has finished in the Top 5 in each of its first six OVC Championship meets.
Tennessee Tech continues its program improvement after a sixth-place finish at last year’s OVC Championship. The Golden Eagles are currently ranked No. 6 in the South Region and were second out of 19 teams at the UAB Blazer Classic in its last race. Sophomore
Sammy Kipkirui has the seventh-best 8K time in the OVC this season (24:24.74) and has earned a pair of OVC Runner of the Week honors.
Morehead State senior
Justin Moakler has finished sixth and fourth at the past two OVC Championships and has the second-best 8K time in the OVC (23:46) entering this weekend’s event. That time, established Oct. 12 at the Royals Cross Country Challenge in Charlotte, shaved nearly 10 seconds off the MSU school record. As a team, the Eagles finished second at last year’s OVC Championship (its best finish since 2014) and came the closest points-wise to winning than any other team during EKU’s 12-year winning streak.
UT Martin enters the OVC Championship ranked No. 15 in the South Region. The Skyhawks competed at the NCAA Pre-Nationals in its last race with
Ryan Ford leading the way. UTM is looking to improve on its fifth-place finish from a year ago, which was its best mark since also finishing fifth in 2011.
Eastern Illinois is the fifth OVC team to earn a regional-ranking entering the postseason, coming in at No. 14 in the Midwest. The Panthers placed seventh in a field of 33 at the Bradley Pink Classic two weeks ago. Last year’s OVC Freshman of the Year,
Dustin Hatfield, has been the team’s top finisher in each of the team’s last three races.
SIUE senior
Ben Scamihorn had a 26th place finish at the Bradley Pink Classic two weeks ago. He has been the Cougars top finisher in each race this season.
Southeast Missouri is looking to become the first home to win the OVC Championship since Eastern Kentucky in 2011. Senior
Dan Plunkett has been the Redhawks most consistent runner this season after not competing in the 2017 season. He finished 39th at the 2016 OVC Championship.
Murray State was second at the Evansville Invitational in its final tune-up for the OVC Championship. Senior
Vince Turner has been the Racers top finisher at every meet in 2018; he was 52nd at last year’s OVC Championship.
Austin Peay senior
Wesley Gray earned OVC Runner of the Week honors earlier this season after winning APSU’s Cross Country Festival race and helping the Govs to a team victory.
Jacksonville State is coming off running at the Little Rock Invitational where the Gamecocks were paced by junior
Corey Champion.
Tennessee State has not competed since running at the Fast Cats Classic on October 6. Sophomore
Larry McNary led the way for the Tigers in that race and was the team’s top finisher at the OVC Championship a year ago.
WOMEN'S PREVIEW
Eastern Kentucky, who has won six-straight OVC crowns, enters the OVC Championship as the only OVC women’s team to be regionally-ranked, coming in at No. 3 in the Southeast Region. The Colonels moved up three spots in the rankings after an 11th place finish at the Penn State National Open two weeks ago. In that race junior
Lilian Jeptooo Kiborus, the 2016 OVC Freshman of the Year, placed 18th, with the second-fastest 6K time in the OVC in 2018. Senior
Gladys Cheruiyot, who was eighth at last year’s OVC Championship, was just one second behind Kiborus at the race.
In six years as a member of the OVC, Belmont has a trio of second-place finishes, a pair of third-place finishes and a fifth-place finish. The Bruins, who were regionally-ranked earlier this season, were second a year ago. Junior
Kortney Schardt earned second-team All-OVC honors in 2017 after finishing 13th at the Championship. She has led the Bruins in all four races this season, including winning the Belmont Opener at the beginning of the season.
Tennessee Tech sophomore
Purity Sanga has been the top runner in the OVC this season, winning a record five OVC Runner of the Week awards. After establishing several new school records in the 5K this season, Sanga capped the regular season with her first collegiate victory two weeks ago, winning the UAB Blazer Classic with a 6K time of 20:28.56. Sanga, last year’s OVC Freshman of the Year, was sixth at the OVC Championship last year, and was the top non-EKU finisher.
For each of the past 25 years, the Southeast Missouri women's team has finished in the top half at the OVC Championship, including a second-place finish in 2016 and a fourth-place finish a year ago. Senior
Kaitlyn Shea, the 2015 OVC Freshman of the Year, finished 12th at the 2017 OVC Championship after placing 13th the season before. In her last race she was 66th at the Pre-Nationals Meet in Wisconsin. Southeast is trying to become the first host to win the Championship since 1990 (Eastern Kentucky).
Last season Eastern Illinois, the 2011 OVC Champions, hosted the event and placed third overall. Two weeks ago, the Panthers competed at the Bradley Pink Classic and were paced by senior
Grace Rowan who was 78th overall.
UT Martin has recorded back-to-back fifth-place finishes at the OVC Championship, the second-highest finishes in program history. The Skyhawks were one of two OVC women’s programs to compete at the NCAA Pre-Nationals in Madison, Wisconsin two weeks ago. At that meet freshman
Breanna Alderton was her team’s top finisher for the second-straight race.
Murray State senior
Rebekah Priddy is looking to improve on her 25th-place finish at last year’s OVC Championship. She has led the Racers in all four meets this season, including a sixth-place finish at the Evansville Invitational two weeks ago.
Morehead State prepared for the OVC Championship with a strong showing at the Royals Challenge in Charlotte, North Carolina. Sophomore
Sierra Poppell shattered the school record in the 5K, breaking the old mark by 30 seconds in finishing fourth at the meet. Junior
Caitlin Cunningham, the team’s top finisher at last year’s OVC Championship, finished just behind Poppell in that meet, in a time that would have broken the old record.
SIUE’s seventh-place finish at the OVC Championship a year ago equaled the program best since the Cougars joined the league in 2012. Two weeks ago at the Bradley Pink Classic, junior
Aly Goff set a 6K personal-best (21:56.3), the seventh-fastest time in program history, and a top 10 time in the OVC this season.
Sophomore
Chumetai Nereo paced Jacksonville State two weeks ago at the Little Rock Invitational. She cut over a minute off her previous 5K best time with a 17:54.0 performance, placing fifth in the field.
Junior newcomer
Maisie Lay has been Austin Peay’s top finisher in each of the team’s last four races, including finishing 15h at the Evansville Invitational two weeks ago.
Rebekah Wynn was Tennessee State’s top finisher at the OVC Championship a year ago as a freshman. She has been the Tigerbelles top finisher in every race of her career, including a 58th-place finish at the Fast Cats Classic on October 6.