COMPLETE RESULTS

MURRAY, Ky. – The Eastern Kentucky University men’s and women’s track and field teams finished third at the Ohio Valley Conference Outdoor Championships this weekend at Stewart Stadium. Sophomore Soufiane Bouchikhi was named the Co-Male Athlete of the Championships after winning the men’s 1,500 meters and 5,000 meters.

Eastern Illinois swept the championships for the third consecutive year. The EIU men won easily with a score of 266, followed by Southeast Missouri (150), EKU (92), Tennessee State (74) and Morehead State (32). The EIU women, meanwhile, won with a score of 185, narrowly edging SEMO’s 181. EKU placed third with a score of 136, followed by Jacksonville State (106.5), host Murray State (48), Austin Peay (44), TSU (34.5), Tennessee Tech (25) and Morehead State (16).

EKU won eight individual OVC titles over the weekend. Bouchikhi led the way for the men’s team, winning his sixth and seventh career conference titles in the men’s 1,500 meters (3:51.94) and 5,000 meters (14:33.17). The native of Antwerp, Belgium, who was named the OVC Male Cross Country Runner of the Year this fall, currently holds the 13th fastest 5,000 meters time in the East Region (13:54.37). The only other EKU male to win an event was freshman Ole Hesselbjerg, who earned his first career OVC title in the men’s 3,000-meter steeplechase on Friday with a time of 9:23.94. He is the third straight Colonel to win that event, as Stanley Mugo won the steeplechase in 2008 and 2009 and junior David Mutuse won it in 2010.

On the women’s side, senior Kat Pagano capped her storied OVC career with her sixth and seventh career titles, one in the women’s 10,000 meters (39.00.11) and the other in the women’s 5,000 meters (17:42.21). Pagano, who was named the 2010 OVC Female Cross Country Runner of the Year and the 2011 OVC Female Indoor Track Athlete of the Year, became the first EKU woman to break the 36-minute mark in the 10,000 meters at the Penn Relays on April 29 with a time of 35:27.69.

Other winners on the women’s team included junior Lutisha Bowen, who earned her second career OVC title by edging teammate DanHeisha Harding in the women’s 100-meter hurdles with a time of 14.03, junior Lydia Kosgei, who won her third consecutive title in the women’s 1,500 meters (outdoor in 2010, indoor and outdoor in 2011) with a time of 4:40.29, and sophomore Picoty Leitich, who won her first career OVC track title in the women’s 800 meters with a time of 2:10.70.

Select members of the EKU track and field team team will continue the season next weekend at the Louisville Twilight Meet before competing at the NCAA East Region Championships from May 26-28.