OTAHKIANS' QUITLEY NAMED OVC RUNNER OF THE YEAR

Southeast Missouri State University senior Janelle Quigley was able to continue her brilliant cross country season by winning Saturday's Ohio Valley Conference Championships.

And as a result, Quigley has been honored as the OVC Female Runner of the Year -- the first time any Southeast cross country athlete (male or female) has gained the league's top award.

"It's just a tremendous honor for Janelle," said Southeast coach Joey Haines. "It's not automatic that the OVC champion wins OVC Runner of the Year. The coaches vote on it.

"But Janelle won the race by more than 21 seconds on a tough course, which is really something. That would have been hard to overlook."

Quigley was named OVC Runner of the Week three times during the season and she won four individual meet titles this year.

"Janelle has just had an outstanding season and we're really proud of her," said Haines.

Quigley and teammate Tammy Wenkel, third in the OVC meet, were named first-team all-conference. Leslie McNamara gained second-team all-OVC honors after placing 14th in the conference race.

Also helping out in the Otahkians' second-place OVC team finish Saturday were two local products. Celeste Ramsey, a sophomore out of Perryville High, was 17th while Amy Arteme, a freshman from Kelly High, was 22nd.

"Amy has really had a tremendous freshman season," Haines said. "She's really done well and she has a tremendous future here at Southeast."

The Otahkians have broken into the regional rankings for the first time, being rated ninth in the Midwest Region.

"It's really quite an honor, especially since we didn't run against most of the other teams ranked on the list," said Haines. "It shows the type of season we have had. The girls have just done a super job."

Southeast's women will compete in the NCAA Regionals Nov. 14 in Wichita, Kan.