CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – Stephanie Place is a very recognizable name in the Tennessee Tech cross country record books. She continually improved her collegiate resume throughout her career as a Golden Eagle.
During her sophomore and junior seasons, Place finished fifth at the OVC Championships in 2006 before earning a third-place finish during the 2007 OVC Championships.
However, on a cool November morning in 2008, Tennessee Tech women's cross country added a very familiar name to its record books with a record-setting accomplishment. Tech senior Place became the first Golden Eagle women's runner to stand atop the medals podium when she claimed a first-place finish at the 2008 OVC Cross Country Championships.
Place paced the entire field by 21 seconds over the 5,000-meter course to break the tape in 18:16.70. Her record-setting finish earned her OVC Female Athlete of the Championship and OVC Female Athlete of the Year honors. She was recognized with Tech's third consecutive All-OVC First Team honor.
Fellow senior Keri Light also earned all-OVC honors, securing her second-straight OVC Second Team award as she finished 12th in the championship field with a time of 19:24.8. Tiffany Palmer crossed 24th in 20:03.8 and Ashley Evans turned in a time of 20:29.5 to finish 31st. Freshman Traci Jones rounded out the Golden Eagles scorers with a 48th-place finish, turning in a time of 21:19.
At the time, Place's performance ranked as the ninth-best 5K time in school history and now ranks as the 24th-best 5K performance in program history.
A decade would pass before another Tech woman would capture a first-place finish at the OVC Championships with Purity Sanga earning the top-place finish in 2018.