Complete Results

CHARLESTON, Ill. – The Eastern Kentucky University men’s track and field team finished third while the Colonel women finished sixth at the Ohio Valley Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships this weekend at Lantz Indoor Fieldhouse.

Eastern Illinois won its fifth consecutive men’s indoor title on Saturday afternoon, while Southeast Missouri won the women’s title, ending EIU’s run at four straight indoor crowns.

EIU scored 199 points on the men’s side to win the title by 83.5 points over second-place SEMO.  SEMO scored 115.5 with EKU third at 104, SIUE fourth at 82, Tennessee State fifth at 78.5 and Belmont sixth at 29.

SEMO won the women’s title in a closely contested championship.  The Redhawks scored 101 points with TSU second at 95 and EIU third at 88.  Murray State was not far behind in fourth place with 87 points.  SIUE placed fifth at 74, EKU sixth at 67, Jacksonville State seventh at 54, Austin Peay eighth at 41 and Belmont ninth at 17. Tennessee Tech failed to score any points in the championship.

Senior Soufiane Bouchikhi and sophomore Ann Eason highlighted the weekend for EKU. Bouchikhi won gold in the men’s mile and 3,000 meters and was a member of the men’s distance medley relay team that finished second. Eason, meanwhile, won the women’s mile and 3,000 meters and was a member of the winning women’s distance medley relay team.

Bouchikhi, the two-time defending OVC Male Indoor Track Athlete of the Year, combined with senior Anthony Eason, junior Wade Meddles and sophomore Thijs Nijhuis to finish second in the distance medley relay on Friday night with a time of 10:03.05. The native of Antwerp, Belgium then opened Saturday’s track action by winning the mile, edging EIU’s Bryce Basting with a time of 4:11.50. Freshman Mads Taersboel, the OVC Male Indoor Freshman of the Year, took bronze in that race with a time of 4:11.88. Bouchikhi capped his weekend by winning the 3,000 meters later on Saturday with a time of 8:18.40. Meddles was not far behind in second in 8:19.53. Freshman Amos Kosgey (fourth / 8:25.37) and sophomore Ole Hesselbjerg (8:34.26) also scored points for the Colonels in that event.

The wins were Bouchikhi’s 10th and 11th career OVC track titles.

Eason, last year’s OVC champion in the indoor and outdoor 5,000 meters, teamed up with sophomore Erica Wesstrom and freshmen Julie Mathisen and Tashuana Yapchung on Friday night to win the distance medley relay, cruising to victory with a time of 12:00.38. The Lexington native then followed up that win with a victory in the mile early in the day on Saturday, edging EIU’s Brittany Whitehead with a time of 4:52.39. She closed out her weekend with gold in the 3,000 meters, winning by nearly 10 seconds with a time of 9:53.83. Freshman Viivi Rantanen, the OVC Female Indoor Freshman of the Year, took silver in that event with a time of 10:02.19 while freshman Ashley Svec was fifth in a time of 10:17.72.

Eason has now won five OVC track titles in her career.

Other notable performances over the weekend included Taersboel taking second in the men’s 800 meters with a time of 1:53.44, Mathisen finishing third in the women’s 800 meters in 2:15.62 and Yapchung scoring points with a fourth-place finish in a time of 56.72.

On Friday, sophomore Zack Hill took silver in the men’s high jump with a leap of 6-7, which is tied for the fifth-best indoor high jump in school history, while senior Yosi Goasdoue and freshman Jeppe Harboe took silver and bronze, respectively, in the men’s 5,000 meters with times of 14:47.43 and 14:47.67. Rantanen and Svec, meanwhile, placed third and fifth, respectively, in the women’s 5,000 meters with times of 17:40.75 and 17:52.58.

Championships MVPs will be named early next week.

The NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships are set to take place March 8-9 in Fayetteville, Ark.

The EKU track and field team opens the outdoor season March 16 at the Cincinnati Early Bird Relays.