Cross Country Battles Heat, Finishes Strong in OVC Preview Meet Friday

Friday, September 18

Cape Girardeau, Mo.

6 p.m.

Southeast Missouri State University

OVC Conference Preview

Photo by: SEMO Creative Media

9/18/2026 8:32:00 PM | Cross Country

Cape Girardeau, Mo. - The Southeast Missouri cross country teams competed at the OVC Conference Preview in Cape Girardeau, Mo., Friday night.

The women's team finished the 6k race first out of three teams racking up 25 points across the top 5 finishers. Murray State took second place with 35 points beating out Southern Indiana at 60.
Nova Ojutkangas paced the team finishing in first with a time of 21:45.2. Lauren Eftink finished behind him in third with a time of 22:53.3. Jocelyn Haynes finished fourth with a time of 22:53.4. Brooklyn Bender finished eighth with a time of 23:19.0 and Claire Horstmann finished ninth with a time of 23:22.6.

Other Finishers for the Redhawks included Aleah Box (17^th, 24:14.5), Julia Martinez Dura (21^st, 24:49.5), and Carly Christians (23^rd, 25:09.7).

The men's team finished the 8k race in second place out of four, collecting 57 points. Southern Illinois took first with 34 points, Murray State took third with 59, and USI in fourth with 64.
James House finished first for SEMO, finishing in fifth in 26:00.1, ahead of Drew Upperman behind him in eighth in 26:07.6. Trey Mygatt finished 11^th in 26:33.3. Carson Koerber finished 16^th in 26:42.2 and wrapping up the scoring wasLincoln Crews in 17^th with a mark of 26:45.3.

Other finishers for the team included Myles Thornburg (20^th, 27:05.2), Evan Fuller (23^rd, 27:23.5), Conner Soendker(34^th, 28:57.9) and Zach Duffie (35^th, 29:48.3).

The Redhawks will have another week off before competing in Terre Haute, Indiana in the Nike XC Town Twilight Meet, hosted by Indiana State on October 2^nd.