CHARLESTON, Ill. — For the third consecutive year a SEMO women's cross country runner won the OVC Championship when Nova Ojutkangas placed first in the 6k championship race. 

This is Ojutkangas's second straight OVC Championship win. 

The men's team finished the 8k race 3^rd out of 11 teams collecting 96 points. UT Martin and Southern Indiana tied in team scores each with 62, but UT Martin won took the team title off of tiebreakers

The 3rd place finish by the men's team is the best it has had in 13 years. The men's team last finished third behind Eastern Kentucky and Eastern Illinois in 2012.

"Our training has shown that we have been ready for this for a month," said coach Ryan Lane. "I knew that we were going to do this. The men's team has bonded really well and because of that they were in the position they were in today."

Nick Cimmarusti earned first team All-OVC honors finishing in seventh in 24:33.8. Garrett Dumke finished right behind in eighth place to earn second team All-OVC with a new personal best mark of 24:34.1. Myles Thornburg finished in 17^th and third on the squad with also a new PR of 24:59.0. 

Wrapping up the scoring for SEMO was Jacob Blassingame with a 55 second personal best finishing in 29^th in 25:26.7 and Evan Fuller in 35^th with a time of 25:40.7.

"Jacob had a massive day," Lane said. "He had an absolutely unbelievable PR and that put us in the position that we were in today. We needed to have him as a catalyst, and we got it from Jacob."

Other Finishers for the Redhawks included Byron Sowerby (38^th, 25:43.1), Clayton Eftink (26:01.0), Sam Rinehart (54^th, 26:22.2) Ian Schwierjohn (26:25.6) and Trey Mygatt (26:44.2)

The women's team finished the 6k race second out of 10 squads, collecting 79 points Tennessee Tech won the women's team title scoring 60 points ahead of SEMO 

"Nova had a really strong day and an impressive run, but we were the fifth best team coming in on paper and we finished second," Lane said. "That took 10 girls having a phenomenal day. We had PR after PR after PR on the right day and they ran so smart, and I am so impressed with them."

Nova Ojutkangas won the race with a time of 20:57.1 Lauren Eftink followed in 15^th with a new personal best mark of 22:07.5. Lexie Dockstader followed finishing in 18^th with a 41 second personal best mark of 22:09.9. Daphne Bishop also ran a new personal best time of 22:14.8 finishing in 20^th. Rounding out the scoring fir SEMO was Erika Mellor who also had a massive PR finishing. In 25^th in 22:27.9.

Other finishers for the team included Ceyda Bayur (28^th, 22:31.4), Kayla Vogelsang (36^th, 22:50.1), Julia Martinez Dura (40^th, 22:58.2), Mattea Pearsall (44^th, 23:04.7), and Alayna Sparr (50^th, 23:13.3).

The next meet for the teams is the NCAA Midwest Regional in Stillwater, Oklahoma for the athletes that qualify.