Red-shirt sophomore Brad LaRocque couldn’t wipe the smile off his face. Senior Erin O’Grady was strong in words about the upcoming meet – and with good reason.

The Ohio Valley Conference meet is at 10 a.m. Saturday at Percy Warmer Park in Nashville, Tenn.

The Eastern men’s and women’s cross country teams are passionate and confident about their chances. While they know Eastern Kentucky, is the clear-cut OVC preseason favorite, each team knows it has a chance to sneak in the backdoor for a chance at their respective titles.

For the men’s team, LaRocque has emerged as one of the top runner’s after the last meet at Evansville. For most of the season, senior Aaron Iaun was the top runner. Senior David Holm has been the No. 2-3 runner this season, but could be a No. 1.

“We merge together,” LaRocque said. “We’re all excited. This is the season for Eastern.”

Iaun has given the Panthers a lift after not being a top three runner the past couple of seasons, but that’s not all.

“Now, we got eight guys who want it bad,” LaRocque said. “They want to run to Eastern. They want it bad. We’ll give EKU our best shot.We can rise to the top. Who knows what those Kenyans will do?”

The Panthers have not won an OVC Championship since 2005 after winning the 2000-2003 titles. The Eastern Illinois men’s team finished fourth last season, and the Panthers have not been first or second since 2005. From 1998-2005, the Panthers finished first or second.

Eastern Illinois head coach Geoff Masanet said the meet is important, but it’s not the end of the world. He also said the work is the culmination of effort for the past two months.

“The key is to not put too much pressure,” Masanet said.

For O’Grady, the 2006 Ohio Valley Conference Freshman of the Year, it’s her final race. She also has red-shirt freshman Olivia Klaus pushing her at the top, someone she necessarily hasn’t had in the past.

“Her and I have been really pushing each other to be better,” O’Grady said. “In turn, if we’re running faster, we’re dragging the rest of the girls. There’s always someone there keeping you in check. I’m really lucky to have her.”

While O’Grady and Klaus expect to be in top 10, sophomore Brittany Arthur and freshmen expect to fill out the final runners for the Panthers.

“It’s challenging because most of the team is coming out of high school,” O’Grady said. “They’re on the right track.”

The Panthers finished fifth last season and haven’t won an OVC Championship since 2001.

“We haven’t shown how good our program us,” O’Grady said. “I feel we have a whole new team dynamic this season.”

O’Grady said everyone wants to be there, there are no bad apples and hopefully, that will lead to a conference title.

“I have nothing to lose,” O’Grady said. “If I relax, the race will come to me. I know I can do it this year. This is it.”

Kevin Murphy can be reached at 581-7944 or

kjmurphy@eiu.edu.