Both the Morehead State men’s and women’s teams took young runners into battle at Saturday’s Ohio Valley Conference Championship in Puyear, Tenn. The result was a third place finish for the MSU men and fifth place effort by the Lady Eagles. Each squad had a member named to the all-conference team, as senior Karen Lutes and freshman Adam Stanley both earned second team honors.

Stanley’s 10th place finish paced the Eagles, who finished behind conference champion Eastern Illinois and runner-up Eastern Kentucky. The freshman from Pikeville finished the 8,000-meter course with a time of 26:11. “I wanted to step up for us today and leave it all on the course,” Stanley said. “We knew it was going to be a close race for third place so every place was important for us.” Following Stanley across the tape for the Eagles were freshman Vic McHenry (21st/26:50), sophomore James Clements (23rd/27:04), junior Brett Allen (25th/27:25), and sophomore Josh Sheets (28th/27:40). Rounding out the Eagles top-eight were freshman Jose Solis (29th/27:47), senior Larry Atkins (39th/28:28) and fellow classmate Aaron Arnold (49th/29:31).

Lutes earned her 15th career all-conference honor by finishing ninth. She completed the 5,000-meter course at Futures Golf Club in 18:38. Champion Eastern Kentucky, runner-up Samford, Southeast Missouri State and Eastern Illinois, edged the Lady Eagles out of the top-spot. Due to illness and injuries, MSU entered just five women’s runners. Junior Alessa Velez took 21st place, finishing the course in 19:19. Rounding out the MSU top-five were freshmen Sarah McClellan (22nd/19:20), Aubrey Walker (31st/19:40) and Melissa Meyers (68th/24:21). Morehead State will next compete at the Southeast Region Championships on Saturday, Nov. 15 on the campus of East Carolina University in Greenville, N.C., while attempting to qualify for the NCAA Championships, which will take place on Monday, Nov. 24.