RICHMOND, Ky. - Coach Rick Erdmann's Eastern Kentucky University men's and women's cross country teams will host the annual EKU Invitational Cross Country Meet Friday afternoon at the Arlington Golf Course.

The women's meet begins at 4:00 p.m., with the men's meet scheduled for a 4:45 p.m. start. Teams entered include EKU, Kentucky, Louisville and Morehead State.

Both Colonel squads are coming off impressive second-place finishes at the Loyola Lakefront Invitational in Chicago, IL, last weekend.

In the women's meet, Eastern placed second with an overall score of 64. Northwestern won the meet with a tally of 24. Rounding out the top five in the field of 13 in the 5,000-meter run were Ball State, 81; Loyola, 106; and Buffalo, 108.

Leading the way for Eastern was sophomore Heather Davel, who finished eighth in a time of 18:34. Theresa Olsen was ninth at 18:36, followed by Jenni Brown in 10^th at 18:39, Celestina Ogbolugo in 15^th at 18:58 and Jennifer Wheeler in 22^nd at 19:10.

EKU also placed second in the men's meet, led by a first-place finish by senior Mohammed Khayr in a time of 24:41 over the 8,000-meter course. Teammate David Machungo was third (24:56), while James Mutuse, in his first action ever for the Colonels, was fifth (25:04). Rounding out Eastern's top five runners were Ryan Parrish in 13^th at 25:25 and Soto Ogawa in 20^th at 25:49.

Iowa edged Eastern in the final scoring, 40-42. Loyola of Chicago was third with 81 points, followed by Marshall at 133 and Buffalo in fifth at 136.

"We were very pleased with both teams' performances, but really felt like our men's team could have won its meet if some our runners had paced themselves better," said Erdmann.