The Eastern Kentucky Men’s and Women’s cross country teams have been predicted to win the Ohio Valley Conference titles for the 2010 season. The men’s team captured its 18th title last season while the women’s team captured its 24th OVC title in the program’s history.
Both the men’s team and the women’s came away with 81 points and 9 first place votes. The votes come from the league head coaches.
The men’s team will be looking to replace defending OVC Champion, Wesley Ruttoh but return Chris Rice who placed ninth in the OVC last year. Along with Rice the Colonels return Alex Dreyer who placed 12th and Daniel Jones who finished 13th.
For the women, three of the top four finishers from last season are returning including OVC Freshman of the Year, Picoty Leitich who also captured the women’s OVC title last season with a time of 19:29:05 a good 13 seconds of the second place finisher. She was the first freshman to win the OVC since 2002. The Lady Colonels also return seniors Sylvia Bundotich and Katherine Pagano who placed third and fourth respectively from last year.
2010 OVC MEN’S CROSS COUNTRY PREDICTED ORDER OF FINISH
(as voted on by the OVC head cross country coaches)
1. Eastern Kentucky (9 first-place votes) – 81
2. Southeast Missouri (1) – 68
Eastern Illinois – 68
4. Jacksonville State – 55
5. Morehead State – 50
6. Tennessee Tech – 34
7. UT Martin – 33
8. Austin Peay – 28
9. Murray State – 21
10. Tennessee State – 12
(Teams awarded 9 points for a first-place vote, 8 for second, etc.)
Top 10 Men’s Cross Country Returnees (Based on Finish at 2009 OVC Championship)
Runner Yr. 2009 Finish (Time)
George Kiplagat, Jacksonville State Sr. 6th (26:14.18)
Jason Lumpkin, Southeast Missouri Sr. 8th (26:44.40)
Chris Rice, Eastern Kentucky Jr. 9th (26:50.16)
James Bowens, Morehead State Sr. 11th (26:54.17)
Alex Dreyer, Eastern Kentucky Jr. 12th (26:55.30)
Daniel Jones, Eastern Kentucky So. 13th (27:01.01)
Matt Feldhake, Eastern Illinois Jr. 14th (27:06.13)
Sam Taylor, Tennessee Tech Sr. 16th (27:17.61)
Tyler Mullen, Southeast Missouri So. 17th (27:23.27)
Josh Wakeman, Morehead State Sr. 18th (27:25.73)
2010 OVC WOMEN’S CROSS COUNTRY PREDICTED ORDER OF FINISH
(as voted on by the OVC head cross country coaches)
1. Eastern Kentucky (9 first-place votes) – 81
2. Eastern Illinois (1) – 70
3. Murray State – 63
4. Southeast Missouri – 59
5. Jacksonville State – 47
6. Morehead State – 39
7. Tennessee Tech – 29
8. Austin Peay – 28
9. UT Martin – 24
10. Tennessee State – 10
(Teams awarded 9 points for a first-place vote, 8 for second, etc.)
Top 10 Women’s Cross Country Returnees (Based on Finish at 2009 OVC Championship)
Runner Yr. 2009 Finish (Time)
Picoty Leitich, Eastern Kentucky So. 1st (19:29.05)
Sylvia Bundotich, Eastern Kentucky Sr. 3rd (19:57.30)
Katherine Pagano, Eastern Kentucky Sr. 4th (20:02.97)
Katelyn Jones, Murray State Sr. 5th (20:11.46)
Olivia Klaus, Eastern Illinois So. 8th (20:26.88)
Monica Noble, Southeast Missouri Sr. 9th (20:28.72)
Ashley Stovall, Jacksonville State So. 10th (20:29.25)
Ashli Joseph, Eastern Kentucky Sr. 11th (20:30.60)
Danielle Mason, Eastern Kentucky Jr. 13th (20:35.77)
Kayla Crusham, Murray State Jr. 14th (20:38.57)
