Place wins individual championship, Tech women fourth, men sixth at OVC
Place named OVC Runner of the Year
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Tennessee Tech's Stephanie Place ran ahead of
the entire field and earned OVC Runner of the Year honors by
winning the individual championship at the 2008 Ohio Valley
Conference Women's Cross Country Championships Saturday morning at
Jaycee Golf Course.
Her first-place effort led the Tech women's team to fourth place in
the team standings, the highest finish for the women's team since
1997. The Golden Eagle men's team finished sixth for their best
showing at the conference championship since 2002.
Eastern Kentucky won the women's team title with 50 points,
followed by Murray State (55), Southeast Missouri (59) and Tech
(113). Eastern Illinois (117) was just behind Tech in the standings
to round out the top five in the 10-team league.
In the men's race, Eastern Kentucky was also the top finisher with
17 points, while Southeast Missouri (66), Morehead State (80),
Eastern Illinois (100) and Jacksonville State (157) made up the top
five. Tech had 178 points for sixth place.
Place won by 21 seconds, finishing with a time of 18:16.7 to record
the ninth-best 5K time in school history. It was the highest
individual finish by a Tech runner, and earned her a third
consecutive first-team all-OVC honor. Place was fifth in 2006 as a
sophomore and third last year.
Senior Keri Light also earned all-OVC honors, grabbing her second
consecutive second-team award with a 12th place finish in the race
with a time of 19:24.8. Tiffany Palmer was 24th in 20:03.8 and
Ashley Evans placed 31s in 20:29.5. Freshman Traci Jones placed
48th in 21:19, followed by Amanda Simmons (22:07) in 59th place and
Sarah Kmet (27:35) in 73rd place.
Sophomore Sam Taylor had the top finish for the Tech men's team,
crossing the line in 27:34 for 30th place. Jarrad Read was 36th in
27:56, followed closely by Ben Shassere (28:00) in 38th place,
Peter Woerner (28:06) in 40th, and Ben Thompson (28:35) in 47th
place. Freshmen Ethan McGroom ran the course in 29:42 for 58th
place and Brian Kennedy clocked a 30:11.6 for 61st place to cap off
the Tech lineup.
