Both the men’s and women’s cross-country teams placed fourth at the Ohio Valley Conference championship Saturday in Nashville, Tenn., at Belmont University.

In the women’s 5-kilometer race, senior Ruth Garippo was the highest-placing Panther with her ninth-place finish of 17 minutes, 38.3 seconds.

Junior Maria Baldwin placed 12th with a time of 17:43.1.

Both Garippo and Baldwin earned second team All-OVC honors.

Seniors Ivy Handley and Rachel Garippo and freshman Sadie Elliott were the final three scored runners for Eastern.

Handley placed 16th with a time of 17:45.6 followed by Garippo’s 27th-place time of 18:12.9 and Elliott’s 48th-place time of 18:48.0.

Also competing for the women were seniors Emily Brelsfoard and Julie James and sophomore Jocelyne Mendoza.

Senior Paxson Menard earned first team All-OVC honors after his seventh-place finish, the highest placing for the Panthers in the championships.

Menard ran the 8-kilometer course in 25:05.5.

Senior Riley McInerney finished just seconds behind Menard, earning an eighth-place finish with a time of 25:08.2 and a second team All-OVC honor.

Senior Juan Barajas placed 25th with a time of 26:11.5, followed by junior Chris Orlow’s 26:34.1 32nd-place finish and senior Tyler Yunk’s 33rd-place finish with a time of 26:34.9.

The men also sent freshmen Robby Prescott and Marcus Skinner and senior Greg Rogers to compete in the race.

Eastern Kentucky won the women’s meet with 29 points, followed by Southeast Missouri and Belmont.

Ann Asipan of Tennessee-Martin was the overall individual winner with a time of 17:03.9.

Eastern Kentucky also won the men’s division, earning 37 points.

Belmont came in second with Morehead State following with their third place finish.

Gilbert Boit from Tennessee Tech won the men’s race with a time of 24:20.9.

The Panthers move on to the NCAA Midwest Regional on Nov. 11, which will be held at the Ashton Cross Country Course in Iowa City, Iowa.

Kaitlin Cordes can be reached at 581-2812 or krcordes@eiu.edu.