The Southeast Cross Country team is looking to have a successful season, with major contributors on both the men’s and women’s side returning. And for the first time in a decade, Southeast will host the Ohio Valley Conference Cross Country championship Oct. 27.
In the 10 years since Southeast last hosted the OVC championship, quite a bit has changed, including the additions of strong competitors Belmont University and Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville. They will be among 12 OVC schools competing in the meet this year.
Last season the Eastern Kentucky men's and women's teams ran to victories, marking the 12th-straight championship and 26th overall for the Eastern Kentucky men and the sixth-straight and 31st overall title for the women. Southeast has yet to win a championship on the men’s or women’s side. The Southeast men finished 10th and the women finished fourth in the 2017 OVC championship.
Teams competing in this year’s meet are Austin Peay, Belmont, Eastern Illinois, Eastern Kentucky, Jacksonville State, Morehead State, Murray State, Southeast Missouri State, SIUE, Tennessee State, Tennessee Tech and UT Martin.
A decade ago, not many schools were offering running scholarships, so there were only around six competitors on the men’s side and about seven on the women’s side.
The conference has since grown, both in size and in competitiveness. Last season, the men’s side of the conference was the eighth fastest conference in cumulative time in the nation. The women’s side finished 11th in the nation for cumulative time.
“We have a really, really tough conference, so we have to make sure our kids are prepared and ready to race,” head coach Ryan Lane said. “It will be nothing different from any other year. We’re doing a lot of base work right now, a lot of high end aerobic work. We’re pushing hard to make sure everybody’s working as hard as possible while staying healthy.”
That mindset has stuck with top runner senior Dan Plunkett, who has already decided to make this season his best yet.
“After talking with coach, we’ve kind of decided to work harder than we ever have and get me up the the most miles that I’ve ever done for an entire season,” Plunkett said. "We’re starting [workouts] a little earlier this year so that we can have a bigger peak when we get to the championship this year.”
In 2016, Plunkett had three top-50 finishes, and he finished 39th in the OVC championship. Plunkett did not compete in cross country in 2017 so he could save his last season of eligibility for this season, where he and Lane believe that he can compete more.
The men’s team did not add any depth to its roster this season, but the women’s team was able to add a few runners, with the additions of freshmen Maddie Keller and Claire Morrill, the latter coming from Notre Dame High School in Cape Girardeau. The men lost Tyler Beaman, Nathan Cook, Hunter Darnell and Andrew Whitener. The women lost Carlee Williamson, Bella Bowers, Andrea George, Eilish Overby, Angie Sumner and Cheyenne Wells.
Something different that Plunkett and other runners are excited about this year is that they are competing in the Pre-Nationals meet at the University of Wisconsin on Oct. 13, where more than 75 schools will be competing. This meet will give both men and women the opportunity to compete against bigger schools, such as Arizona State, Oregon, Kansas, UCLA and Duke, just a few weeks before the conference championship.
“It’s really cool to be able to switch it up this year and go to Wisconsin, because that’s a really big meet,” senior Sydney O’Brien said. “Most of the meets that we’ve done I’m really familiar with, because we go to them every year.”
O’Brien did not compete in cross country in 2017, as she was nursing an ankle injury. She had a stellar 2016 season, however, where she saw a top-50 finish in six of her seven races. Even with fitting a wedding in this summer, she found ways to train for the upcoming season.
“Everyone was making fun of me because I went for a run the morning of the wedding,” O’Brien said. “I didn’t get to run later that night, but I was a little bit busy I guess.”
O’Brien is one of the lead runners on the women’s side. Southeast’s “big three,” as Lane put it, are O’Brien, Kaitlyn Shea, who was Southeast’s top finisher at last year’s OVC championship, and breakout runner Carli Knott. Knott, a native of Jackson, Missouri, recorded three top-20 finishes last season, and has been improving ever since. After those three, Lane said it is hard to gauge who will be where in the lineup.
“From the four to the 10 on the girl’s side, to be honest with you, I can’t tell you any given week who’s going to be my four and who’s going to be my 10,” Lane said. “As long as we’re healthy, this is the best women’s team SEMO’s ever had. Period. It’s not even close.”
Lane and the rest of the team believe this team can go far, on both the men and the women’s side. Lane said he is excited to host the conference championship, and certainly believes his runners will appreciate the home-field advantage.
“Every year, it seems like the home team has the advantage, because they can train on the course, and sleep in their own beds, and they’re familiar with the weather,” Lane said. “There is a home-field advantage for sure. Outside of that, I think it’s exciting for our people in town to support our team, since we don’t have that opportunity during the course of the regular season.”
The Redhawks will have their first meet Aug. 31 at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale.
