2011 NCAA Southeast Regional Central

RICHMOND, Ky. – The Eastern Kentucky University men’s and women’s cross country teams will compete at the NCAA Southeast Regional Championship this Saturday, Nov. 12, at E.P. “Tom” Sawyer State Park in Louisville. The men’s 10K race will begin at 10:00 a.m., while the women’s 6K race is scheduled to begin at 11:15 a.m.

The EKU men enter the weekend ranked No. 20 in the country – the highest national ranking in school history – and No. 2 in the Southeast Region by the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA). The Colonels are seeking their first-ever team berth in the NCAA Championship, which will be held Monday, Nov. 21, in Terre Haute, Ind.

The top two teams in each of the nine regions across the country automatically advance to the national meet. Thirteen at-large teams complete the 31-team field, and those at-large teams will be announced no later than 7:00 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 13.

North Carolina State is ranked No. 14 in the country and is the only team ranked ahead of EKU in the Southeast Region. No. 25 North Carolina and No. 26 Louisville also pose viable threats to the Colonels at Saturday’s meet.

If the Colonels do not qualify for the NCAA Championships as a team on Saturday, EKU has a strong history of sending runners to Terre Haute through individual at-large bids. Sophomore Soufiane Bouchikhi, as well as former Colonels Wesley Ruttoh, Joseph Maina and Jacob Korir, have all competed at the NCAA Championship in the last four years. Korir finished seventh at the meet in 2007.

Bouchikhi placed third at last year’s Southeast Regional Championship and 49th at last year’s NCAA Championship, and he has been EKU’s top runner again this fall. The native of Antwerp, Belgium was named the Ohio Valley Conference Male Cross Country Athlete of the Year for the second straight season after leading the Colonels to their sixth straight conference title two weeks ago.

Senior Ben Cheruiyot, a transfer from Auburn, has consistently been the Colonels’ No. 2 runner this season and has the potential to be a top-20 runner in the country. The native of Eldoret, Kenya was named a cross country All-American at Auburn after he finished 18th at the 2009 NCAA Championship. Another Southeastern Conference transfer, senior Peter Sigilai, is EKU’s No. 3 runner, while sophomore Adams Ronnoh, who was the runner-up to Bouchikhi at this year’s OVC Championship, is the Colonels’ No. 4 man. Cheruiyot and Sigilai did not compete at the OVC Championship.

The No. 5 spot has been erratic, with senior David Mutuse, junior Daniel Jones and OVC Male Freshman of the Year Thijs Nijhuis all showing the ability to occupy it throughout the season. Senior Evans Kiptoo, meanwhile, is the wild card of the group. Kiptoo is a two-time first team All-OVC cross country runner and was named to the All-Southeast Region team last year, yet he has labored through injuries this season – including a foot injury at the OVC Championship – and has yet to finish in the team’s top five. If healthy, however, he has the potential to be a factor at Saturday’s race.

“Qualifying for nationals will all come down to running as a team,” 44-time OVC Coach of the Year Rick Erdmann said. “We can’t have Soufiane and Ben a minute and a half ahead of the rest of our guys. Our No. 3 – 7 runners have to close that gap.”

The EKU women had won five straight and 25 of the last 32 OVC Championships before being unseated by a balanced Eastern Illinois team two weeks ago. Still, the Colonels are ranked No. 12 in the Southeast Region and have one of the top distance runners in the country on their team.

Senior Lydia Kosgei redshirted last year’s cross country season but made a name for herself in the spring when she was dubbed an honorable mention All-American in the outdoor 5,000 meters after finishing 17th in the event at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships with a time of 16:10.81. That success has translated to cross country, as she was named this year’s OVC Female Cross Country Athlete of the Year and has won four of the five meets she has competed in this fall, including a 262-runner field at the talent-laden Greater Louisville Classic on Oct. 1.

Kosgei is looking to become the first EKU woman to qualify for the NCAA Cross Country Championship since its inception in 1981.

Kosgei will be backed on Saturday by first team All-OVC junior Picoty Leitich, who finished second on the team and 59th overall at last year’s Southeast Regional Championship, and second team All-OVC freshman Ann Eason. Sophomore Hannah Miller and senior Danielle Mason have been the Colonels’ No. 4 and 5 runners recently, and both will have to step up for EKU to make noise at Saturday’s meet.

The Southeast Region is one of the largest, and toughest, of the nine regions in the nation, consisting of all NCAA Division I schools from the states of Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina.

Thirty-seven men’s teams and 39 women’s teams will compete at Saturday’s event.

The EKU men finished seventh at last year’s Southeast Regional Championship, while the EKU women finished 14th.