Bowling Green, Ky. – Seth Farmer (JR/Waverly, Ohio) and Marissa Smith (SO/Logan, Ohio) both won their respective Mid-South Conference Runner of the Year awards leading Shawnee State to sweep the Mid-South Conference Championships on Saturday in Bowling Green.
Farmer finished in first place by 14 seconds ahead of Campbellsville's Bret Crawford, finishing with a time of 25:24.4. SSU also had Steven Adams (JR/Pickaway County, Ohio) place in the top five, finishing fifth overall with a time of 26:05.0. Three more Bears finished in the top 10: Hunter Hoover (SO/Waverly, Ohio) (sixth place, 26:11.6), Owen Reeher (JR/Kinsman, Ohio) (seventh place, 26:13.7) and Josh Metzung (SO/Chardon, Ohio) (10th place, 26:25.5). Overall, Shawnee State scored 29 points, 26 ahead of second place Campbellsville, finishing with a combined time of 2:10:20.
Marissa Smith led the Shawnee State women to the Mid-South Championship by finishing in first place, running the race in 19:01.3. SSU also had second and third place locked down, with Jessica Price (SO/Proctorville, Ohio) (19:20.9) and Jessica Cook (FR/Pomeroy, Ohio) (19:29.8) placing second and third respectively. Mallory Spencer (SO/Glouster, Ohio)'s time of 20:01.7 was good enough to place her in the top 10 at 10th; Shaniah Begley (SR/McDermott, Ohio) was SSU's final scorer, placing 15th with a time of 20:18.5. SSU's combined time of 1:38.13 was over one minute ahead of second place Cumberland (Tenn.), and the Bears scored 31 points, 13 ahead of the Phoenix.
The Mid-South Conference Championships continue SSU's dominance of the Mid-South Conference since the Bears joined the league in 2010. Shawnee State's men have won the Mid-South Conference in eight of nine seasons since joining the league, and have won three straight. Shawnee State's women have been even better, winning nine conference championships in a row since 2010. The women's streak is now one season short of matching Cumberlands (Ky.) league record of 10 conference championships in a row, set from 1996-2005.
In addition to Farmer and Smith's Runner of the Year awards, SSU brought home a number of other awards. Eric Putnam was named Mid-South Conference Men's Cross Country Coach of the Year. SSU also had Jessica Cook win Mid-South Conference Women's Cross Country Freshman of the Year as the top finishing freshman of the meet. SSU had five athletes win MSC All-Academic; Brooke Smith (SR/Wheelersburg, Ohio), Marissa Smith and Mallory Spencer for the women, TJ Hoggard (FR/McDermott, Ohio) and Chris Parsons (SO/Middletown, Ohio) for the men.
Both of SSU's teams punched their tickets to the NAIA Cross Country National Championships, to be held in Cedar Rapids, Iowa on November 17.
