Cross Country To Compete at OVC Championships

The Murray State men's and women's cross country teams will run at the Ohio Valley Conference Championships at Vaughn's Creek Cross Country Course at Percy Warner Park in Nashville, Tennessee.

The meet will begin at 9:00 a.m. CT with the men's 8k, followed by the women's 5k at 10:00 a.m. CT.

MEET INFO
Tennessee State is serving as the host for the first time since 2009. It will be the 61^st men's championships while the women will be running for the 43^rd time.

Official timing results are available at this link

The women's squad finished fifth at OVC's last season, marking their highest finish at the conference meet since 2015. They have finished in the top three at three of their four regular season meets.

The Racers are led by the senior duo of Dani Wright and Jessica Stein. Wright, a 2020-21 All-OVC Second Team, and Stein have combined for 6 top-10 finishes this season.

The women's fastest team average time this season was 18:54 at North Alabama.

For the men, they finished ninth at the championships last March. The top two finishers for the Racers last season were Benjamin Hall and Nathan Quinn. Hall came home with a 48^th place followed by Quinn at 49^th.

Jorge Ruiz has paced the group over the past couple of meets. He has been followed closely by Vicente Correia and Caleb Kawasaki.

The last time the men had an All-OVC finisher was in 2002 when Ryan Davis and Tim Bradley came in 11^th and 13^th place.

This season, the men's fastest team average time was 25:48 at North Alabama where eight of nine runners either beat or matched their PR.

QUOTABLES – From Distance Coach Jordan Johnston
On the women: "Going into Conference our women should feel confident and ready. Our numbers 3-7 are stronger than they have been in years and it's been exciting to coach a tight group of girls where the order of finish is so interchangeable given the day. I know they are all hungry to earn a spot in that top 5 and contribute to the team score. Senior Dani Wright has her eyes set on a couple of individuals in the field as she is trying to have a repeat of last year, finishing All-OVC. As a group we have talked race strategy as it relates to nerves at the starting line and tackling the big hill they will face just before the 2 mile mark. Overall I think these women are ready."

On the men: "The men's performances this season have been fairly consistent considering the various different courses that we have competed on. This should hopefully make them feel confident going into the conference championship. In the past our Men's program has had a strong top two runners and then there would be a big gap before runners 4-10. This year we have more depth and a really strong top 4 with our number 5, sophomore Nathan Quinn, making improvements with every race. I wouldn't count out Junior Ben Hall from being in the mix of that top 5 either on Saturday. He has all of the right pieces and we're working to put it all together. It will be the final Cross Country OVC Championships for fifth-year Caleb Kawasaki, and seniors Christian Slone and Jordan Higgins. Christian and Jordan were my first recruited class at Murray State so I really hope we can accomplish something big and allow them to leave a lasting legacy on our program."

Last year the Eastern Illinois men and Eastern Kentucky women's teams ran to victories at the event held in Clarksville, Tenn. in March.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Vicente Correia

Benjamin Hall

Jordan Higgins

Caleb Kawasaki

Nathan Quinn

Jorge Ruiz

Christian Slone

Jessica Stein

Dani Wright

Murray State University Athletics