RICHMOND, Ky. - The Eastern Kentucky University men's and women's cross country teams will open the season on familiar turf this weekend as the Colonels host Kentucky and Marshall on campus at the Wood Chip Trail on Friday at 4:00 p.m.

The meet will be different from most cross country races as it is set up in a relay format. Each male runner will run two two-mile clips while each female runner will run three one-mile clips. The fastest five times from each team will be added up to produce the final scoring.

Both the men's and women's teams defeated Marshall at last year's meet (Kentucky did not attend) and went on to win the OVC Championships.

The men's team was selected by OVC head coaches to repeat as OVC champions in 2009. The women's team was picked to finish second behind Murray State.

The men’s team will be without 2008 OVC Cross Country Runner of the Year Joseph Maina; however, that is about the extent of their losses.

Of the top 10 returning runners in the conference (based on last year’s OVC finish), five are Colonels. Of the top four, all are Colonels.

Senior Stanley Mugo (2nd/25:24.4) is back and fresh off a spring season in which he was named the Co-OVC Male Track and Field Athlete of the Year.

He will be pushed all season by junior Evans Kiptoo (3rd/25:30.0), who won the 5,000 meters at the OVC Outdoor Track and Field championships with a time of 14:40.51, edging Maina by just over a second.

Senior veterans Chris Rengifo (5th/26:02.0) and Elkana Kurgat (6th/26:04.0) also return to provide the men’s team with depth. Rengifo will try to bounce back from injuries that kept him sidelined through 2009’s track and field season. Kurgat, meanwhile, has finished in the top six at the OVC Cross Country Championships the past three seasons.

Junior David Willis (11th/26:22.3) is listed as the eighth top returnee in the conference after earning second All-OVC honors last year.

Sophomores Chris Rice (16th/26:41.3) and Alex Dreyer (23rd/27:06.4), as well as junior Josephat Melly, will also look to emerge in 2009.

The women’s team scored a gutsy victory over upstart Murray State at last year’s conference championships, but will have to cope with the losses of such veterans as Barbara Phelan (6th/18:59.8) and Alli McMaster (13th/19:30.3).

Murray State, meanwhile, returns its nucleus from last year’s team, including junior Katelyn Jones, who is the top returnee in the conference (per last year’s OVC finish).

The EKU women’s roster is far from decimated, however. The Colonels’ top runner from 2008, junior Katherine Pagano (5th/18:56.9), is back and fresh off her 5,000 meters title at the 2009 OVC Outdoor Track and Field Championships.

Also returning for the women’s team is senior Maria Doerger (10th/19:15.8), whose status for the season is questionable due to lingering injuries, sophomore Danielle Mason (16th/19:43.2), junior Ashli Joseph (17th/19:48.8) and sophomore Ashley Chisholm (27th/20:20.1).