Complete Results

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Eastern Kentucky University men's track and field team won its second consecutive Ohio Valley Conference indoor title on Thursday at the Birmingham CrossPlex.
 
It is the first time since 1994-1995 that EKU has won back-to-back OVC indoor championships. Overall, it is the men's team's sixth conference indoor title.
 
EKU won with a score of 128 points, defeating second-place Eastern Illinois (104) by 24 points. Belmont (103), Southeast Missouri (100), Tennessee State (98), SIUE (65) and UT Martin (61) rounded out the men's standings.
 
The EKU women finished seventh at the meet with a score of 43 points. Tennessee Tech won the women's title with 119 points, followed by Murray State (107.5), TSU (89.5), SEMO (76.5), Austin Peay (68.5), Belmont (56), EKU (43), SIUE (39), EIU (27), Jacksonville State (25), Morehead State (9) and UT Martin (3).
 
Men's Recap
 
In total, the EKU men won five gold medals during the meet.
 
Senior Jaime Romo got the Colonels off on the right foot by winning the 5,000 meters with a time of 14:36.5 on Friday night.
 
Fellow senior Yoshua Reed picked up where Romo left on Saturday, winning the heptathlon early in the day with 4,996 points. It was Reed's fourth consecutive OVC multi gold, dating back to the 2017 outdoor decathlon.
 
Reed ended up scoring 23 points at the meet. Late Saturday, with the team title still up for grabs, the senior delivered possibly his most important performance, taking silver in the high jump with a personal-best leap of 6-11.
 
He also scored in the pole vault (seventh) and 60-meter hurdles (seventh) and ran anchor leg on the 4x400 meter relay (fifth).
 
Freshman James Sugira – the reigning OVC Male Track Athlete of the Year – delivered in a big way on Saturday, winning two gold medals. He won the mile early in the day with a time of 4:12.2. Junior Samuel Abascal was right behind him in second (4:12.7). Freshman Remi Schyns (4:15.4) and senior David Bascuñana (4:16.4) went 5-6 to give the Colonels 25 points in the event.
 
Sugira also won the 3,000 meters late in the day, clocking a winning time of 8:24.2. Abascal took bronze in that race (8:25.0), while Romo came in fourth (8:26.2).
 
Junior Nickson Rotich provided the fifth gold for the men, winning the 800 meters with a time of 1:54.01. It was Rotich's first indoor gold in the half-mile. He won the 800 meters at last year's OVC Outdoor Championships.
 
Other scorers for the men on Saturday included Rotich (fifth / 49.23) and senior JP Ferraro (sixth / 49.23) in the 400 meters, Malik Mays in the triple jump (eighth / 42-0.75), Ben Thoms in the 60-meter hurdles (eighth / 9.96) and Tanner Clough (seventh / 3,071) and Bobby Brown (eighth / 2,810) in the heptathlon.
 
Women's Recap
 
The women's team had two medalists on Saturday. Senior Meggan Grams opened the day by taking bronze in the mile with a time of 5:00.72. It was Grams' second OVC medal in the mile. She took silver in the event last February.
 
Freshman Lou Trois (fourth / 5:01.22) and senior Alondra Hoyos (fifth / 5:03.68) finished right behind Grams in the mile and gave the Colonels 15 points for the event.
 
The women also posted big points in the 800 meters. Sophomore Ashley Barr – who had never competed in the half-mile until this season – grabbed bronze in the event with a time of 2:19.75. Grams, meanwhile, finished fifth (2:21.28) while Trois took sixth (2:21.29).
 
Other scorers for the women on Saturday included junior Hailey Lacy in the pentathlon (eighth / 3,286) and freshman Jeanne Reix Charat in the 3,000 meters (seventh / 10:11.65).