RICHMOND, Ky. - Coach Rick Erdmann's Eastern Kentucky University men's and women's cross country won Ohio Valley Conference championships this past weekend in a meet at the Ft. Campbell Golf Course that was hosted by Austin Peay State University.

EKU's women's team won its 18^th consecutive OVC cross country title by scoring 33 points to outdistance second-place Southeast Missouri who had 48 points. Rounding out team scores in the women's meet were Eastern Illinois, 59; Morehead State, 95; Austin Peay, 161; Murray State, 173; Tennessee Tech, 192; Tennessee State, 193; Middle Tennessee, 248; and UT Martin, 286.

Eastern's men's team scored 24 points to win its meet. Eastern Illinois was second at 42, followed by Murray State, 81; Morehead State, 102; Austin Peay, 183; Tennessee Tech, 189; Southeast Missouri, 191; Middle Tennessee, 204; and Tennessee State, 244.

"I was really pleased with the effort and performance of both teams," said Erdmann. "What was really impressive was how the top five runners for both teams ran close throughout each race."

Senior Jenni Brown topped the Eastern women's team effort with her second-place finish in 18:42.16. Other EKU scorers included Heather Davel, sixth, 18:58.37; Celestina Ogbolugo, seventh, 18:59.50; Theresa Olsen, eighth, 18:59.79; and Jennifer Wheeler, 10^th, 19:04.21.

Sophomore James Mutuse led Eastern's men's team to 1-2-3 individual finishes with his first-place clocking of 25:06.34. Mohammed Khayr was second at 25:22.86, while the Colonels' David Machungo was third at 25:38.51.

Also scoring for the EKU men's team was Ryan Parrish, eighth, 26:28.31, and Soto Ogawa, 10^th, 26:36.36.

Both Eastern teams are preparing to compete in the always-tough NCAA District III Cross Country Championship Meet held at Furman University in Greenville, SC.