Oct. 28, 2005
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ---- The Samford University men's and women's cross country teams head to Charleston, Ill., to compete in the Ohio Valley Conference Championship, hosted by Eastern Illinois on Saturday morning. The women look to defend their 2004 title, while the men look to improve upon their fourth-place finish in 2004.
"We are excited about the prospects of being able to defend out title on the women's side and we are looking forward to moving up a little on the men's side," said Samford head coach Glenn McWaters.
The 2004 women's team set a high standard, winning the meet and sweeping the top-five individual spots. The 2005 squad has put together an impressive season so far, as they look to repeat their success in 2004. Samford has been led by three-time OVC Women's Athlete of the Week Lauren Blankenship. Blankenship was named 2004 OVC Athlete of the Year following after she captured individual title at the conference championships.
"I think we have a stronger women's team than we did last year, but Eastern Kentucky has put together a much stronger team as well," McWaters said. "There are a lot of really good individual runners out there on each team. We would have to run out absolute best race of the year to do what we did last year. I'd be extremely happy if we could put five girls in the top-10, but we'll see what happens."
In addition to Blankenship, three more of the 2004 team that swept the top-five will compete on Saturday. Seniors Jessica Brewer and Michelle Brewer return for their final conference championships, as they look to be named All-OVC for the third consecutive year. 2004 OVC Freshman of the Year Britney Almaguer returns The Bulldogs have also added Katherine Herring, a talented transfer from Alabama-Huntsville. The Bulldogs won three of their four meets during the regular season.
The men's team looks to move up following their fourth-place finish in 2004. The men field a young, talented team. The top six performers on the men's side consist of two sophomores and four freshmen.
Both men's and women's squads expect tough competition, including three-time OVC Men's Athletes of the Week, Eastern Kentucky's Jacob Korir and Jacksonville State's Josphat Waweru. Korir captured the 2004 individual crown to lead EKU to a championship, while Waweru was the runner-up. Eastern Illinois's Dave Carlson, a 2003 and 2004 All-OVC performer also returns. EKU and EIU have captured the top-two spots for the past seven years. The Samford women expect a challenge from 18-time OVC champion Eastern Kentucky. The Colonels were runners-up in 2004, and are led by senior Kellie McClung, who has been All-OVC for the past two years.
"Eastern Kentucky, on the women's side look really good, they have a really a good team, and they're a perennial champion," said McWaters. On the men's side, Eastern Kentucky won last year, but Eastern Illinois is a perennial champion as well, so I think those two teams are really going to battle it out. Of course we'd like to get in there and mix it up a bit too."
The 2005 O'Reilly Ohio Valley Conference Cross Country Championships kicks of at 10 a.m., with the men's 8,000-meter race. The women will follow at 11 a.m., when they compete in the 5,000-meter race. The awards ceremony begins at 12 p.m. and results can be found after 1 p.m. on www.ovcsports.com.
