OXFORD, Ala. – The SIUE men's cross country team finished sixth at the program's first-ever Ohio Valley Conference Championships Saturday morning, and Clint Kliem produced the fastest time ever for a freshman at SIUE.
"The guys competed hard from the get-go," Head Coach Eileen McAllister said. "They did a great job of getting in a good position at the start and holding that position throughout the race."
Leading the way was Kliem, who finished 19th overall with a personal-best time of 25 minutes, 24.19 seconds. The finish was first all-time amongst Cougar freshman, and was the 16th fastest 8K time in program history.
"Clint was outstanding today," McAllister said. "There were only two other freshmen who ran faster than him in this race; it was very impressive."
Also setting PR's for SIUE were freshmen Scott Woodard and Evan Morgeson. Woodard posted a personal-best time of 26:42.76, while Morgeson finished in 26:53.80.
"Scott and Evan fought the entire race, and were rewarded with PR's," McAllister said. "We obviously would like to do better team-wise, but the guys gave a great effort and that's all I can ask for."
Senior Aaron Werths, who battled a stomach virus earlier in the week, posted a time of 26:03.94, while sophomore Frankie Sottosanto finished in 28:23.10 and freshman Trevor Morgan finished in 28:36.69.
Eastern Kentucky took home the OVC crown for the seventh straight season, as the Colonels had seven of the top 10 individual finishers.
"I thought we competed well at our first OVC meet," McAllister said. "Our athletes now see what they're up against and they see what kind of training they'll have to put in to compete at a high level next year."
Next up for SIUE is the NCAA Midwest Regional race on Nov. 9 at Springfield, Mo.
