Ohio Valley Conference cross country teams will see the first action of the 2025 season the weekend of August 29-30.
The regular season will build to the 2025 Ohio Valley Conference Cross Country Championships, which will be held on Friday, October 31 in Charleston, Illinois. It marks the first time since 2017 that Eastern Illinois has hosted the event.
This year there are 11 teams who will compete for the OVC Championship: Eastern Illinois, Lindenwood, Little Rock, Morehead State, Southeast Missouri, SIUE, Southern Indiana, Tennessee State, Tennessee Tech, UT Martin and Western Illinois.
Last season the Southern Indiana men's and women's teams swept the event, marking the first title for either program.
Opening Week Schedule
August 29 - Eastern Illinois, Lindenwood, Southeast Missouri, SIUE & UT Martin at Redhawks Invitational (Cape Girardeau, Mo.)
August 29 - Morehead State at EKU Invitational (Richmond, Ky.)
August 29 - Southern Indiana a Stegemoller Twilight (Evansville, Ind.)
August 29 - Tennessee State at Belmont Opener (Nashville, Tenn.)
August 29 - Tennessee Tech at Covered Bridge Open (Boone, N.C.)
August 30 - Little Rock at UCA Bear Invitational (Conway, Ark.)
Idle - Western Illinois
Runners to Watch
Ahead of the 2025 campaign, each head coach selected one male and one female student-athlete as their program's "Runner to Watch" for the season.
Eastern Illinois
Cale Smith (Jr.)
Rylea Borgic (Sr.)
Lindenwood
Isaac Ndiwa (So.)
Cadynce Shipman (So.)
Little Rock
Jordan Smith (Grad.)
Eva Tice (Fr.)
Morehead State
Aidan Massey (Grad.)
Abby Taylor (Sr.)
Southeast Missouri
Evan Fuller (So.)
Lexie Dockstader (Sr.)
SIUE
Tanner Emerson (So.)
Kinze Shea (Fr.)
Southern Indiana
Alex Nolan (Jr.)
Hadessah Austin (So.)
Tennessee State
Robert Hooper (Sr.)
Sydney McGee (Sr.)
Tennessee Tech
Carter Bradford (Sr.)
Makaleigh Jessee (Jr.)
UT Martin
Will Douglas (Jr.)
Maggie Roy (Sr.)
Western Illinois
Robert Perry (Sr.)
Lydia Bennett (Jr.)