See the complete race results (PDF)

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Led by junior Sam Taylor’s 15th place individual finish, the Tennessee Tech men’s cross country team claimed fifth place in the 2009 Ohio Valley Conference cross country championships, held Saturday morning at Percy Warner Park.

Eastern Kentucky was nearly perfect in posting 22 points to win the team title, placing four runners in the top five. Eastern Illinois was a distant second with 89 points, with Southeast Missouri (98) third, Jacksonville State (122) fourth and the Golden Eagles (130) rounding out the top five.

The bottom half of the standings had Morehead State (144) in sixth, UT Martin (161) seventh, Austin Peay (211) eighth, Murray State (236) ninth, and Tennessee State (300) 10th.

Taylor narrowly missed earning all-OVC honors, which go to the top 14 runners. He finished 15th overall in 27:17.61, exactly six seconds short of earning the post-season honor. Senior Peter Woerner was just behind, placing 18th in 27:31.16.

The Golden Eagles had a pack of runners coming in together about a half minute later, led by senior Jarrad Read in 31st place at 28:08.30. Senior Joseph DeLorenzo was 34th in 28:31.84, followed closely by freshman Chris Bishop 35th in 28:33.48 and junior Ben Shassere 36th in 28:35.39.

Tech’s seventh finisher was senior Ben Thompson in 39th place (28:48.82) with sophomore Daniel Francis 40th (28:50.67).

Eastern Kentucky’s Wesley Ruttoh (25:39.24) was the individual OVC champion by a comfortable 15-second margin over David Nilsson of Jacksonville State (25:54.82).