Friday Results I Saturday's Heat Sheets

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Eastern Kentucky University senior David Mutuse and freshman Ann Eason won the men’s and women’s 5,000 meters, respectively, on day one of the Ohio Valley Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships Friday at the Gentry Center.

The EKU men’s and women’s distance medley relay teams also won titles on the opening day of the two-day event.

The EKU men’s team is currently in second place with 42 points, while the women’s team is tied for third place with two other teams with 26 points. The finals of most running events will take place on Saturday.

The Southeast Missouri men lead the OVC Championships with 51 points, followed by EKU (42), host Tennessee State (33) and three-time defending champion Eastern Illinois (26).

On the women’s side, EIU is in the lead with 56.5 points, followed by Austin Peay (26.5), EKU (26), SEMO (26), TSU (26), Murray State (21), Jacksonville State (10) and Tennessee Tech (2).

Mutuse defended his indoor 5,000 meters title from last year with a time of 14:45.71, edging teammate Alex Dreyer by less than two seconds. For Dreyer, who is also a senior, his time of 14:47.24 was a personal-best, and his second-place finish was the highest finish of his career at an OVC Championships. In all, the top-four finishers in the men’s 5,000 meters were Colonels as junior Daniel Jones placed third (14:49.44) and freshman Natan Reuter took fourth (14:54.87).

Eason captured her first career indoor title on Friday, winning the women’s 5,000 meters with a time of 17:35.22 and defeating her nearest competitor, EIU’s Caitlin Napoleoni, by over eight seconds. Eason’s time was a career-best and it is the fifth-fastest women’s indoor 5,000 meters time in school history.

The men’s distance medley relay team – composed of seniors Ben Cheruiyot, Gerry Cooper and Peter Sigilai and junior Soufiane Bouchikhi – won with a time of 9:54.42, barely edging EIU (9:54.86) to earn the 10 points.

On the other hand, the women’s distance medley relay team – composed of seniors Jackline Barkechir and Lydia Kosgei and juniors Bianca Forbes and Picoty Leitich – ran away from the field, winning with a time of 11:53.87 and defeating its nearest competitor, EIU, by almost five seconds.

Other Colonels who scored points on Friday were junior Jazzmin Jeter (fourth place in the women’s long jump with a leap of 18-10.0), freshman Zach Hill (fourth place in the men’s high jump with a jump of 6-04.0), freshman Tanner Kendall (sixth place in the men’s high jump with a jump of 6-04.0) and sophomore Hannah Miller (eighth place in the women’s 5,000 meters with a time of 18:23.19).

Events resume on Saturday at 10:00 a.m. and the awards ceremony is expected to take place around 4:00 p.m.