Complete Results

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – The Eastern Kentucky University men's track and field team won its first Ohio Valley Conference Outdoor Championship since 1957 over the weekend.
 
The Colonels ran away from their competition on Saturday, finishing with 170 points. Their nearest competitor, Belmont, scored 138 points. Southeast Missouri was third with 136 points, followed by Eastern Illinois (113), SIUE (102), Tennessee State (95), UT Martin (33) and Morehead State (23).
 
It is head coach Rick Erdmann's 73^rd career OVC title, but his first OVC men's outdoor championship. Men's outdoor was the only OVC title that had eluded him in his 39-year EKU career.
 
Erdmann was also named OVC Coach of the Year for the 70^th time following the meet.
 
With this weekend's title, the EKU men have now earned the OVC season triple crown (cross country, indoor track and field and outdoor track and field). They are the first OVC men's team to accomplish that feat since Eastern Illinois in 2003.
 
The Colonels won seven gold medals over the weekend, including three on Championship Saturday.
 
Sophomore Samuel Abascal ignited EKU on the final day by scoring an upset victory in the 1,500 meters. He clocked a time of 3:53.1 to win his first-ever OVC title.
 
Senior Tom Koringo (fifth) and freshman Zak Kirk (sixth) also scored in the 1,500 meters.
 
Sophomore Nickson Rotich followed that up by cruising to victory in the 800 meters. It was also his first career OVC gold. Rotich, who missed all of indoor season and most of outdoor season with an injury, clocked a winning time of 1:50.6.
 
Koringo took bronze in the 800 meters, while junior Greyson Winiger scored with a sixth-place finish.
 
EKU clinched the title with a dominant showing in the 5,000 meters. Senior Jamaine Coleman won gold in the race with a time of 15:12.33, while senior Addison Monroe (second) and sophomore Fred Kanda (third) completed the podium sweep. Kirk (sixth) added more points.
 
Freshman Ben Thoms also delivered a big performance on Saturday, taking bronze in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 15.04. Senior Isaac Lee scored points with a fifth-place finish in that race.
 
Other Colonels who scored points on Saturday included junior Tequan Claitt in the triple jump (fifth), sophomore Jacob Alleyne in the triple jump (sixth), junior John Ferraro in the 400 meters (fourth), freshman Augustine Tugbe in the 100 meters (seventh) and Lee in the 400-meter hurdles (fifth).
 
EKU's 4x400-meter relay team – composed of Ferraro, Rotich, Winiger and Lee – took fourth in 3:18.02.
 
The EKU women finished fourth out of 12 teams with 83 points, their best finish since they finished third in 2011. The Colonels lost only to host Tennessee Tech (151), Murray State (101) and Tennessee State (87). SEMO (80), EIU (79), Jacksonville State (70.5), SIUE (58), Austin Peay (54.5), Belmont (43), UT Martin (nine) and Morehead State (three) rounded out the women's standings.
 
The women won two golds over the weekend, including one on Saturday.
 
Senior All-American Charlotte Imer won her sixth career OVC title, taking first in the 5,000 meters with a time of 17:14.7. Junior Gladys Cheruiyot (third) and senior Ciara Scott (fifth) also delivered points in the race.
 
Juniors Meggan Grams (silver) and Haley Yost (bronze) scored big points for the women in the 1,500 meters.
 
The duo followed that up with more points in the 800 meters, as Grams took bronze and Yost finished fifth.
 
Other individual point scorers for the women on Saturday included sophomore Ke'Asia Johnson-Bell in the 100-meter hurdles (fifth) and senior Madison Zeitz in the 800 meters (eighth).
 
Qualifying Colonels will now compete at the NCAA East Region Preliminary Rounds in Tampa, Florida the weekend of May 24-26.