Saturday, November 1
Oxford, Ala.
9AM
Southeast Missouri State University
vs
Ohio Valley Conference Championships
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.
Cross Country to Run at OVC Championships Saturday
10/30/2014 10:52:00 AM | Cross Country
Championship Central | Complete OVC Preview
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – The Southeast Missouri cross country teams will head to Oxford, Alabama Saturday to compete in the 2014 Ohio Valley Conference Championships.
The women's 5K race will begin at 9 a.m. followed by the men's 8K race at 10 a.m. The championships will be held at Oxford Lake Park.
This is the second time in three years the championship will be held at Oxford Lake Park. 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.
The women's championship will be ran for the 36th time this year. Eastern Kentucky has won 27 of the previous 35 championships, including each of the past two seasons.
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.
"Our women's team have put themselves in a really good place to contend for a top spot and we are going to need to rely heavily on our seniors, Gloria Westlake, Mary Dohogne, and Rebekah, to have great races in order for us to achieve our goals," said head coach Ryan Lane. "They look to have a cumulative effort of four years of work to propel the team forward. Megan Parks and Angela Sumner should round out our top-five and are also going to be key to our success."
Lawson is the lone Redhawk on the women's team to earn OVC Runner of the Week this season. She earned the honor on Oct. 21. Lawson finished 14th at the Bradley Pink Classic on Oct. 17. Lawson was the top OVC finisher in a race that included five total OVC squads. The senior finished the 6K race in 21:37.9, which was just 13 seconds out of 10th place. She helped the Redhawk women to a 10th place finish out of 30 schools.
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.
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.
Brown was the first male to earn OVC Runner of the Week honors this season. Brown took first-place at the Gabby Reuveni Early Bird hosted by Washington University in St. Louis on Aug. 30. The junior finished with a 6K time of 19:23, which was three seconds ahead of the second-place finisher. His performance helped the team to a second-place finish to kick off the 2014 season.
Lane added, "The men's team is just barely outside, looking in at some of the top team places. We have a great pack and two potential front-runners in Marc Maton and Shane, but we will have to come together as a team to move up in the team rankings. Our biggest upside is that our 5-8 runners are better than most other team's 5 runners, so if we have our team run as pack, we can help ourselves by increasing other teams point totals. We have a lot of seasoned seniors and some largely untested, but talented freshmen in Beaman and Nathan Cook, so we could easily surprise some teams and move way up from our pre-meet rankings."
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.
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – The Southeast Missouri cross country teams will head to Oxford, Alabama Saturday to compete in the 2014 Ohio Valley Conference Championships.
The women's 5K race will begin at 9 a.m. followed by the men's 8K race at 10 a.m. The championships will be held at Oxford Lake Park.
This is the second time in three years the championship will be held at Oxford Lake Park. 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.
The women's championship will be ran for the 36th time this year. Eastern Kentucky has won 27 of the previous 35 championships, including each of the past two seasons.
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.
"Our women's team have put themselves in a really good place to contend for a top spot and we are going to need to rely heavily on our seniors, Gloria Westlake, Mary Dohogne, and Rebekah, to have great races in order for us to achieve our goals," said head coach Ryan Lane. "They look to have a cumulative effort of four years of work to propel the team forward. Megan Parks and Angela Sumner should round out our top-five and are also going to be key to our success."
Lawson is the lone Redhawk on the women's team to earn OVC Runner of the Week this season. She earned the honor on Oct. 21. Lawson finished 14th at the Bradley Pink Classic on Oct. 17. Lawson was the top OVC finisher in a race that included five total OVC squads. The senior finished the 6K race in 21:37.9, which was just 13 seconds out of 10th place. She helped the Redhawk women to a 10th place finish out of 30 schools.
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.
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.
Brown was the first male to earn OVC Runner of the Week honors this season. Brown took first-place at the Gabby Reuveni Early Bird hosted by Washington University in St. Louis on Aug. 30. The junior finished with a 6K time of 19:23, which was three seconds ahead of the second-place finisher. His performance helped the team to a second-place finish to kick off the 2014 season.
Lane added, "The men's team is just barely outside, looking in at some of the top team places. We have a great pack and two potential front-runners in Marc Maton and Shane, but we will have to come together as a team to move up in the team rankings. Our biggest upside is that our 5-8 runners are better than most other team's 5 runners, so if we have our team run as pack, we can help ourselves by increasing other teams point totals. We have a lot of seasoned seniors and some largely untested, but talented freshmen in Beaman and Nathan Cook, so we could easily surprise some teams and move way up from our pre-meet rankings."
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.
Players Mentioned
/ Cross Country
/ Cross Country
/ Cross Country
/ Cross Country
/ Cross Country
/ Cross Country
/ Cross Country
/ Cross Country
/ Cross Country
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