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BRENTWOOD, Tenn. – Following strong performances against a talented field at the Greater Louisville Classic this weekend, Eastern Kentucky University distance runners Soufiane Bouchikhi and Picoty Leitich were honored by the OVC on Tuesday as Bouchikhi was named the OVC Co-Male Cross Country Runner of the Week and Leitich was named the OVC Co-Female Cross Country Runner of the Week.

It is the third consecutive week Bouchikhi has been named the conference Runner of the Week. It is Leitich’s first Runner of the Week honor this season and the third of her career.

Bouchikhi led the men’s team to a fourth place finish in the competitive gold race on Saturday, finishing ninth out of 323 runners and covering the 8K course in a time of 23:41.66. The freshman from Antwerp, Belgium paced the Colonel men to victories over such regionally ranked foes as Southern Illinois (No. 9 in the Midwest), Georgia (No. 5 in the South), Ole Miss (No. 6 in the South), Missouri (No. 15 in the Midwest), Kentucky (No. 14 in the Southeast), Mississippi State (No. 8 in the South) and in-state rival Western Kentucky.

Bouchikhi shared this week’s honor with UT Martin’s Colin Johnson.

Leitich, last year’s OVC champion, was the women’s team’s top finisher for the first time this season on Saturday as she edged teammate Kat Pagano and finished 19th out of 302 runners in the gold race, covering the 5K course in an OVC-best time of 17:37.53. The native of Bomet, Kenya led the Colonel women past such regionally-ranked opponents as Kentucky (No. 7 in the Southeast), Mississippi State (No. 13 in the South), and Georgia Tech (No. 14 in the South).

Leitich shared this week’s honor with Murray State’s Katelyn Jones.

EKU Women Move Up Two Spots in Southeast Region Rankings

The EKU women’s cross country team jumped two spots to No. 11 in the USTFCCCA Southeast Region rankings this week. Following their eighth place finish at the Greater Louisville Classic on Saturday, the Colonel women are now ranked ahead of Kentucky (No. 12), Charlotte (No. 13), William and Mary (No. 14) and South Carolina (No. 15) and just behind in-state rival Western Kentucky (No. 10).

The EKU men’s team fell one spot to No. 7 in the Southeast Region as Louisville moved to No. 6 after defeating the Colonel men at the Greater Louisville Classic on Saturday.

The cross country Colonels will take this weekend off before running at the NCAA Pre-Nationals in Terre Haute, Ind. on Oct. 16.