• Complete USTFCCCA All-Region Release
NEW ORLEANS – Five Ohio Valley Conference cross country student-athletes were among the 450 who earned All-Region honors from the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) following this past weekend’s NCAA Regional Championships.
Athletes of member schools that finished in the top 25 individually at one of the nine regional sites earned the honor.
The selections include Belmont sophomore
Mia Elbon and four members of the Eastern Kentucky men's team, juniors
Soufiane Bouchikhi and
Wade Meddles and sophomores
Thijs Nijhuis and
Ben Toroitich.
Elbon ran with the lead pack the entire 6K race en route to a 23rd place finish of out 205 competitors. Her time of 20:43.4 was yet another personal best and earned her All-South Region honors. It marked the 13th time a Belmont women's cross country runner has earned All-South Region honors, the first since Brittany Thune in 2009.
Bouchikhi, who has now earned All-Southeast Region honors in three consecutive years, became the first Colonel since Jacob Korir in 2006 to win the regional meet, defeating a field of 226 runners and covering the 10K course in a time of 29:32.37. Nijhuis, meanwhile, finished 11th with a time of 30:08.15, while Meddles finished 13th in 30:08.89 and Toroitich finished 15th in 30:29.91. It is the most All-Region honorees EKU has ever produced in a single season.
Although Elbon did not qualify for the National Championship meet, the No. 15 ranked EKU men’s team will compete at the premiere event in college cross country this Saturday, Nov. 17, at E.P. “Tom” Sawyer Park in Louisville. The men’s race is set to begin at 1:15 p.m. ET.