OXFORD, Ala. – Tennessee Tech runners established 10 new
career-best times Saturday as the Golden Eagles competed at the
2012 Ohio Valley Conference Cross Country Championships. The Tech
men placed seventh while the Golden Eagle women finished in
11th place.
Junior Rebecca Cline paced the Tech women, who wrote four new
career-best times. In the men's race, the Tech leader was junior Matthew
Bishop, who posted one of six career-best times.
Eastern Kentucky captured first in the women's race with 44
points, putting three runners in the top six. Belmont, which
boasted the individual winner in Maria Elbon, was second with 61
points, narrowly edging Eastern Illinois (64). Murray State (94)
and Southeast Missouri (149) rounded out the top five.
The balance of the standings included Morehead State (150), Austin
Peay (211), Jacksonville State (233), SIU Edwardsville (239), UT
Martin (256), Tennessee Tech (305) and Tennessee State (354).
Junior Rebecca Cline was Tech's top finisher, covering the 5K
course in 19:18.00, just five seconds shy of her career-best for a
53rd place showing. Senior Beth Miller was a mere six
seconds behind, setting a new career-best and placing
55th in the time of 19:24.46. Freshman Landry Loving
also posted a career-best, finishing 63rd in 19:54.58,
followed by junior Peri Winborne in 20:08.47.
Junior Amelia McCoy was Tech's fifth finisher in 20:40.64,
followed by senior Kathryn Forbes in a career-best time of 20:45.07
and junior Meghan O'Donoghue in 20:49.23. Sophomore Kara Webb
rounded out Tech's lineup, finishing in 20:55.66.
The EKU men posted a near-perfect score of 17 in winning their 8K
race and another conference championship. Eastern Illinois was a
distant second with 70 points, while Southeast Missouri (76) was
third, Morehead State (102) fourth and Belmont (115) fifth.
SIU Edwardsville (208) placed sixth, while Tennessee Tech (213)
came in one point better than Jacksonville State (214). UT Martin
(250), Austin Peay (272), Murray State (289) and Tennessee State
(366) completed the scoring.
Soufiane Bouchikhi of EKU was the individual winner, racing around
the course in 24:01.75.
Golden Eagle junior Matthew Bishop led the way for coach Tony
Cox's team, finishing 35th overall with a career-best
effort of 26:19.43. Classmate Adam McLeod finished
four places back in 39th, also recording a career-best
time with a 26:24.56 showing.
Sophomore Sterling
Smith placed 42nd, posting a time of 26:31.02 for
the team's third career-best time of the race, while senior Mike
Mahan was 45th in a career-best run of 26:39.73.
Finishing fifth on the team, senior Daniel Francis
placed 52nd with a time of 26:58.38. Sophmore Charlie Jordan ran
a time of 28:49.02 to place 68th, while senior Kolbe
Andrzejewski was 70th in the time of 28:51.87. The final runner
for Tech was sophomore Matt Pennycuff, who
completed the run in 30:51.91. The times for Francis, Jordan and
Andrzejewski were also career-best numbers.
