RICHMOND, Ky. – The Eastern Kentucky University track and field team will compete at the OVC Outdoor Championships this weekend at Tucker Stadium in Cookeville, Tenn. The men’s team finished in second place while the women’s team took sixth place at last year’s outdoor championships.

The women’s team, however, took second place at this year’s OVC Indoor Championships and will look to improve upon last year’s outdoor finish. The men’s team finished third at this year’s indoor championships.

For the men, Eastern Illinois earned 227 points to finish first last year while EKU was in second with 141, followed by Southeast Missouri with 124, Tennessee State with 45, Texas-Pan American with 26 and Morehead State with 6.

On the women’s side, EIU won the outdoor championships last year with 188 points while Southeast Missouri placed second with 155, Murray State finished third with 91.5 points, Jacksonville State followed in fourth with 78.5 and Austin Peay rounded out the top five with 76.5. EKU finished in sixth with 72 points.

As in the past, EKU is expected to excel in the running events at this year’s meet. The Colonels boast eight OVC best times entering this weekend.

For the women, freshman Bianca Forbes has the fastest 400 meters time (55.14) in the OVC, junior Kat Pagano has the fastest 3,000 meters (9:59.00) and 10,000 meters (a school record 36:06.00) times in the conference and sophomore Lutisha Bowen owns the fastest 100-meter hurdles time (14.01) in the OVC.

The women’s 4x100 meter relay team – made up of Bowen, sophomore Diamond Benjamin and freshmen DanHeisha Harding and Jazzmin Jeter – also have the fastest time in the conference (46.47), which they ran at the EKU Open on April 16.

On the men’s side, senior Christopher Rengifo has the fastest 1,500 meters time (3:51.92) in the OVC while freshman Soufiane Bouchikhi sits atop the OVC best list in the 5,000 meters (14:01.71) and sophomore David Mutuse sits atop the OVC best list in the 10,000 meters (30:53.36).

The Colonels also have numerous athletes on the roster who have won individual OVC titles in the past.

Pagano won the 10,000 meters at last year’s outdoor championships and the 5,000 meters at this year’s indoor championships, Harding won the 55-meter hurdles at this year’s indoor championships and Benjamin is a three-time OVC champion with two indoor 55-meter titles and an indoor 200 meters title.

For the men, junior Shannon Davis won the 400 meters at last year’s outdoor championships while Bouchikhi won two individual titles – the mile and the 3,000 meters – at this year’s indoor championships.

The meet begins Friday with the track events starting at 2:15 p.m. CST with the women's 3,000-meter steeplechase and the field events kicking off at 1 p.m. CST with the high jump. The meet resumes Saturday at 8:45 a.m. CST.

Fans interested in photos from the meet and awards presentations can visit http://tinyurl.com/36mqfuq, or go to TTUSports.com, choose the photos page and click on the track and field category.

Results from each day can be seen at www.ovcsports.com following the completion of each day’s events.