RICHMOND, Ky. – The Eastern Kentucky University men’s and women’s cross country teams will open a highly-anticipated 2011 campaign by hosting Marshall on Friday at 4:00 p.m. in the annual EKU vs. Marshall Relays at the Wood Chip Trail on campus.

Both EKU squads are heavily favored to win their sixth straight Ohio Valley Conference championships this fall; however, it is the men that are drawing national attention with the season set to get underway, as the Colonels are ranked No. 4 in the rugged Southeast Region and No. 28 in the country, per the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) rankings. It is EKU’s first-ever appearance in the national rankings, and the Colonels debut just ahead of Arizona State (No. 29), Dartmouth (No. 30), Alabama, Penn State and North Carolina (all receiving votes) and just behind such national powerhouses as Notre Dame (No. 23), Texas (No. 24), Ohio State (No. 25), Florida (No. 26) and Minnesota (No. 27).

Sophomore Soufiane Bouchikhi, the reigning OVC Male Cross Country Runner of the Year, returns to lead the EKU men’s team. Bouchikhi finished third at the Southeast Region Championships and 49th at the NCAA Championships last fall, and he is fresh off a highly-successful spring in which he ran the second-fastest 5,000 meters time (13:54.37) in EKU history on the track. He will be joined by a team of veterans that accounted for eight of the top 14 finishers at last year’s OVC Championships, including junior Victor Kemboi, seniors Evans Kiptoo and David Mutuse, junior Daniel Jones and seniors Musa Kimuli and Chris Rice. Another seasoned senior, Alex Dreyer, will add depth to a team that many will have their eyes on this fall.

The Colonels bolstered their already-formidable roster in the offseason by adding a slew of talented newcomers, including Ben Cheruiyot, a two-time NCAA All-American at Auburn and one of the top distance runners in the Southeastern Conference (SEC) the last two years; Peter Sigilai, another former SEC harrier from Tennessee; Yosi Goasdoue, a transfer from American International College (the same school that produced Kemboi); and freshmen Thijs Nijhuis, from Denmark, and Natan Reuter, from Belgium.

EKU has sent four runners to the NCAA Cross Country Championships in the last four years (including Bouchikhi last year), but the Colonels have never qualified a team for the event held in Terre Haute, Ind on Nov. 21 this year. The top two schools from each region, and 13 at-large teams, advance to the NCAA Championships every year.

“Whatever level of success we have this year will depend on our ability to run together as a team,” 42-time OVC Cross Country Coach of the Year Rick Erdmann said. “We struggled a bit with that last year, and if we can’t do it this year, we’ll have limited success.”

The EKU women’s team lost two of its top runners from last year to graduation, including OVC Female Athlete of the Year Kat Pagano. However, the Colonels return a strong nucleus, including juniors Jackline Barkechir, who was runner-up to Pagano at last year’s OVC Championships, and Picoty Leitich, who won the championships as a freshman in 2009, senior Danielle Mason, who has been a consistently strong runner on the OVC scene the last three years and sophomores Hannah Miller, who was named OVC Freshman of the Year in 2010 and Natalie Field, who placed 19th at last year’s OVC Championships

The EKU women’s roster will be even further strengthened by the return of senior Lydia Kosgei, who redshirted last fall but proved to be one of the top distance runners in the conference this spring when she ran a 16:07.14 5,000 meters and placed 17th in the event at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships.

Four freshmen, Ann Eason, Erica Reaser, Shannon Rutherford and Erica Wesstrom, will make their debut for the women’s team on Friday.

“We have some strong senior leadership this year,” Erdmann concluded. “Lydia Kosgei, Evans Kiptoo, David Mutuse, they’re all seniors who have been around awhile and had success in cross country.”