COOKEVILLE - Junior Enock Langat finished 11th to lead Austin Peay State University men's cross country team to a fifth-place finish at the 2010 Ohio Valley Conference Men's Cross Country Championships, Saturday morning, at Southern Hills Golf Course.

Langat completed the eight-kilometer course in 26:11.21 and finished on the second-team All-OVC roster. He is the first Govs runner to receive All-OVC honors since Lewis Delfin received all-conference honors in 1998. Eastern Kentucky's Soufiane Bouchikhi won the men's championship with a time of 24:56.73.

Meanwhile the Govs got strong efforts all round to finish fifth with 145 points. It was the Govs best finish in the championship since the 1999 event, which also was contested in Cookeville. Eastern Kentucky became the fourth team to sweep the top five individual spots in the championship, posting the lowest possible score of 15 points.

"All the guys probably ran their best," said APSU head coach Doug Molnar. "It may not have been their best individual time, but it was definitely the best race we've run all year from number one through number seven. I'm very proud of these guys they worked hard all year and put it together on the day that it counts the most."

Sophomore transfer Geofrey Kosgei fell shy of an all-conference spot, finishing 16th overall with a time of 26:27.82. Junior Boniface Yator posted a 35th-place effort with a time of 27:44.88. Freshman Tyler Kepley was 42nd (28:15.65) and freshman Genaro Martinez 48th (28:53.74) rounded out the Govs scoring five.

Junior Evan Collins finished 51st (29:07.99) and sophomore Konnor Kessler, who finished 61st (30:03.58), accounted for the rest of the team's effort.

- AP -