FINAL RESULTS

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Eastern Kentucky University women’s track and field team finished in second place while the men’s team took third place at the Ohio Valley Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships on Saturday at the Gentry Center on Tennessee State’s campus.

The women’s team (128 points) was narrowly edged by Eastern Illinois (142 points) for the indoor title. The final event of the day – the 4x400 meter relay – was the deciding factor. The EIU team won the event with a time of 3:52.56 while the EKU team took fourth with a time of 3:54.32.

The women’s team, however, did have numerous individual highlights during the championships. Sophomore sprinter Diamond Benjamin – the reigning OVC Co-Female Track Athlete of the Year – won two individual titles. She won the 55 meters with a time of 6.94 and cruised to the 200 meters title with a time of 24.48. She was also a member of the 4x400 meter relay team that took fourth place.

Benjamin’s 200 meters time is second on EKU’s all-time top-five list while her 55 meters time is fourth on the top-five list. Both times are within tenths of a second of qualifying for the national championships.

Freshman DanHeisha Harding also took home an individual title, winning the 55-meter hurdles in her first season at EKU with a time of 7.98. Harding also took 10th in the 55 meters with a time of 7.35.

Junior Katherine Pagano won an individual title – the first of her indoor career - on Friday night, placing first in the 5,000 meters with a time of 8:16.98. She scored points with a second place finish in the 3,000 meters (10:23.50) and a sixth place finish in the mile (5:16.70)

Freshman Jazzmin Jeter and sophomore Morgan Thacker did not win individual titles but they did perform well enough to crack EKU’s all-time top-five lists in the long jump and the triple jump. Jeter placed third in the long jump with a mark of 18-09.75, good enough for second on the school’s top-five list. Thacker, meanwhile, placed sixth in the long jump with a leap of 18-07.00 (fourth on the all-time list) and fourth in the triple jump with a mark of 37-00.5 (fourth on the all-time list).

The men’s team finished third with 88.5 points behind Eastern Illinois (178 points) and Southeast Missouri State (150.5).

Freshman Soufiane Bouchikhi – the OVC Co-Male Freshman of the Year – also won two individual OVC titles in his first season at EKU. The native of Antwerp, Belgium narrowly defeated teammate Christopher Rengifo (4:13.72) to win the mile with a time of 4:13.42, and then won the 3,000 meters with a time of 8:41.39.

Junior Shannon Davis nearly added another indoor title to his career as he placed second in the 55 meters with a time of 6.41, losing to EIU’s Jacob Mitchell by 0.3 seconds. He also placed second in the 200 meters with a mark of 21.88.

The Indoor Track and Field National Championships will be held from March 11-13 in Fayetteville, Ark.

The EKU track and field team begins its outdoor season on March 26 at North Carolina State Raleigh Relays.