OVC Cross Country Championships Saturday

It marks the second time in three years the championship will be held on the course. Jacksonville State served as the host in 2012 but this year host institution duties have rotated to UT Martin who decided to come back to the course and who will serve as the host institution this year. The meet is free and open to the public.

This will be the 53rd OVC men's championship, as the first one was held in 1962. Eastern Kentucky has won the most OVC Championships (22), including the last eight in a row and nine of the last 10. EKU has had the individual champion in each of the last 10 years.

The women's championship will be determined for the 36th time this year. Eastern Kentucky has won 27 of the previous 35 championships, including each of the past two 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 eight-time defending champion, enters Saturday's race as the favorites as they have been ranked nationally this season, although the team fell out of the latest USTFCCCA Top 30 poll. A year ago the Colonels finished 15th at the NCAA Championship, the highest-ever finish for the program in its third-straight year competing in the National Championship. The team's top runner this season has been junior Amos Kosgey who has been named OVC Runner of the Week three different times, including after winning the Kentucky Bluegrass Invitational in September. His 8K time of 23:27.4 at the loaded Notre Dame Invitational in October in the best time in the OVC this season; Kosgey finished sixth out of 200 runners at that event. The Colonels are currently ranked fifth in the Southeast Region entering the event.

Belmont is the only other OVC men's team ranked in the latest set of USTFCCCA regional rankings, coming in at 12th in the South Region. The Bruins have finished sixth and second in its two OVC Championship meets. Senior John Sharpe earned OVC Runner of the Week honors on September 30 after a 12th place finish at the Oklahoma State Cowboy Jamboree while junior Marcus Bridger-Wilkinson was the team's top finisher in its last race, the Alabama Crimson Classic.

Morehead State is under the direction of first-year head coach Stephen Picucci who continues to build a program that finished third at the OVC Championship last season (its highest finish since 2008). Junior Jesse Moreno won the Queen City Invitational to start the season and ran the fifth-best 8K time in the OVC at the Greater Louisville Classic (24:24.69). Senior Gary Monroe finished 13th at the OVC Championship in 2012, the last time it was ran on this course; his 8K time of 24:50.89 is the 10th-best in the Conference in 2014.

Eastern Illinois is the last non-EKU team to win the OVC Championship, capturing the crown in 2005.  Sophomore Riley McInerney was 12th at the OVC Championship last season and was the team's top finisher in its last meet at Bradley two weeks ago.

Tennessee Tech has made a huge surge under first-year head coach Wayne Angel. Angel was previously the coach at Florida A&M and brought sophomore transfer Geoffrey Sambu with him to Cookeville. Sambu started his Golden Eagle career by winning the Carolina Invitational which earned him OVC Co-Runner of the Week honors. He earned that honor again on October 14 after placing third at the Florida State Invitational on a hot and humid night in Tallahassee.

Southeast Missouri junior Shane Brown ran the best 6K time in the OVC this season at the Forest Park Festival in September. In the team's most recent meet, freshman Tyler Beaman was the Redhawks top finisher.

Junior Clint Kliem earned a 10th place finish at last year's OVC Championship (after finishing 19th as a freshman) for SIUE, who has finished sixth as a team in each of its first two OVC Championships. Kliem has won both of the events the Cougars have hosted this season.

Host UT Martin was seventh at the OVC Championship a season ago when then sophomore Justin Morgan was 36th overall. Morgan has the best four mile time in the Conference this season (20:39.42) when he was 11th at the Memphis Twilight Classic.

Jacksonville State is likely to be paced by senior Mickey Sanders who was second at the JSU Foothills Invitational in early October; Sanders was 39th at last year's OVC Championship. The last time the Championship was held on this course the Gamecocks were eighth overall.

Austin Peay has a roster made up of nearly all sophomores who continue to improve and pace the Governors. Sophomore Daniel Hamm won the individual crown at the JSU Foothills Invitational held several weeks ago on the same course the OVC Championship will be contested on.

Murray State junior Cole Cisneros was named OVC Runner of the Week on September 23 after winning the Austin Peay Invitational, an event where the Racers team also took home top honors.

Tennessee State had its final tune-up for the OVC Championship in Chattanooga two weeks ago. The Tigers were led by sophomore Quamel Prince in that race; Prince was the team's top finisher at the OVC Championship a season ago.


Women's Preview
Eastern Kentucky enters the OVC Championship as the only OVC women's program regionally ranked, coming in at No. 8 in the Southeast Region. The Colonels have won the team championship each of the past two years, including by a wide margin last year. Senior Una Britton is the defending OVC Champion, winning last year's race by seven seconds. EKU's top runner is two-time reigning OVC Runner of the Year Ann Eason who has the best 5K and 6K times in the Conference this season. Eason was eighth at the OVC Championship as a freshman and sixth as a sophomore before an injury kept her out of last year's event.

Belmont was regionally-ranked earlier this season and has finished second at the OVC Championship each of the past two years. Junior Hannah Wittman earned a pair of OVC Runner of the Week honors this season and has the fourth-best 5K time in the OVC this season (17:27.28). Wittman was third at the OVC Championship a season ago.

Eastern Illinois, the 2011 OVC Champions, prepped for the OVC Championship with a performance at the Bradley Invitational two weeks ago. The Panthers were led in that event by sophomore Emily Brelsfoard who was 26th at her first OVC Championship a season ago. Sophomore Victoria Quarton was the team's top finisher at the Championship last year, finishing 10th overall.

For the past 22 years the Southeast Missouri women's team has finished in the top half at the OVC Championship, including a few second place finishes but the Redhawks have never claimed the top spot. Senior Rebekah Lawson nearly became the first Southeast runner to win the event since 2002 when she was the runner-up (by seven seconds) a year ago. Lawson was sixth at the OVC Championship as a freshman in 2011 and seventh in 2012.

The Murray State women's team competed at the Notre Dame Invitational earlier this month and were paced by sophomore Alicyn Hester who recorded the seventh-best 5K time in the OVC this season. Junior Emma Gilmore, who earned OVC Runner of the Week honors earlier this season, was the team's top finisher at the OVC Championship a year ago (14th).

Two weeks ago at the Bradley Pink Classic four Morehead State runners put their names on the MSU all-time 6K performance list, including juniors Alex Morris and Erica Parks and sophomores Mackenzie Butler and Haley Mullins. Morris's time of 22:11.9 was the sixth-best 6K in the OVC this season.

Junior Jessica Gray has been consistent for Austin Peay this season including a fifth-place finish at the Evansville Invitational in her last race.

In its first two OVC Championships, SIUE has finished ninth (2012) and eighth (2013) and looking to improve on those finishes this season. Senior Kirby Hale led the Cougars for the first time this season in its last race, running the ninth-fastest 6K in school history at the Bradley Pink Classic. Hale was 36th at the OVC Championship a season ago.

In its last meet Tennessee Tech was paced by senior Yeshi Dohrmann who earned OVC Runner of the Week honors after a strong showing at the Florida State Invitational. The Golden Eagles are looking to improve on its 10th place finish from last season under first-year head coach Wayne Angel.

Jacksonville State was seventh at the OVC Championship a year ago. This season sophomore Ju-ells McLeod had a 10th place finish at the Furman Invitational earlier this season. She was 40th at her first OVC Championship a season ago.

UT Martin has not been in action since running at the JSU Foothills Invitational on October 4. In that race, held on the same course the OVC Championship will be contested, junior Haley Doty led the way with a 5K time of 19:25.63.

Tennessee State will likely be paced by sophomore Oteia Prince who was the team's top finisher at the OVC Championship a season ago.