It is the end of the regular season for the men and women of Eastern’s cross-country teams.

With the Illini Open, which took place this Friday, in the books, the moment the team has been preparing for has arrived: the OVC Championship meet.

There were only a handful of runners sent to represent Eastern, so it was a learning meet for some. A small squad that included six runners was sent to Illinois to compete for Eastern that included five men and one women.

The leading runner for the team was freshman men’s team runner David Thompson who finished 28th in the meet with an 8K time of 28 minutes, 06.8 and was followed closely by the second runner for Eastern, sophomore Austin Earp.

Earp finished 32nd overall in the 8K with a time of 28:22.7.

The next three Eastern male runners, starting with redshirt freshman Wylie Anderson, finished the 8K with a time of 28:35.6 for the 35th place finish in the meet. Redshirt senior Tyler Keen was 40th with his time of 29:29.6, and to round out the men redshirt senior Karson Hahn finished with a time of 30:11.0 finishing 42nd.

The lone female runner to compete for Eastern, freshman Ashley Gilmore, finished 51st in the 5K with a time of 22:42.4.

The meet featured larger and ranked schools from around the Midwest that had competitors, such as Illinois, Illinois State, Butler, Purdue, Northern Illinois and Bradley.

The top runners for Eastern should be well-rested and ready to compete at a high level in the conference championship meet. Top runners senior Maria Baldwin and freshman Dustin Hatfield will look to finish the season strong in the conference meet.

Alex Hartman can be reached at 581-2812 or aihartman@eiu.edu