Ryan Ford claims All-OVC first team honors as Skyhawk men equal best finish in program history at OVC Cross Country Championships; young Skyhawk women’s squad finished seventh

Senior UTM standout Ryan Ford earned his second career All-Ohio Valley Conference first team honor after posting a fourth-place finish to lead the way for the Skyhawk men at the 2020-21 OVC Cross Country Championship held at Weakley Park on Monday afternoon.

UTM men’s squad posted a fourth-place finish with 103 points which tied for the team’s best finish in program history. On the women’s side, the Skyhawks placed seventh with 182 points.

In the men’s 8k, Ford ran stride-for-stride at the head of the pack all the way to the finish line before ultimately finishing in fourth place with a time of 26:51.3. With his fourth-place finish, he earned his second All-OVC first team honor – joining his 2018 accolade – while posting the second-best place in school history. Along with his race accolades he was awarded the program’s first OVC Male Cross Country Athlete of the Year Award.

Senior John Green ranked second on the Skyhawks finishing 18^th overall at 28:24.7 while classmate Oisin O’Gailin wasn’t far behind in 22^nd with a time of 28:48.9. Fellow seniors Alex Schell (28:58.9, 26^th) and Lenny Baumann (29:17.8, 33^rd) wrapped up the scoring-five for the Skyhawk men.

In the women’s 5k, sophomore Taylor Roy paced the Skyhawks and just missed out on All-OVC honors by one place, finishing 15^th with a time of 20:14.0. Classmate Erica Fisher ranked second on the team in 29^th with a time of 21:02.0.

Sophomore Breanna Roy came in 40^th at 21:34.0 while freshman Annie Amundsen finished in 43^rd at 21:38.0. Sophomore Maggie Medley wrapped up the Skyhawk scoring group in 55^th at 22:18.0.

“This was a bit disappointing because both teams are better than they raced today,” UT Martin head coach Kevin Mangan said. “It was a tough day because the course was a lot more difficult than we were led to believe it would be. The teams battled super hard and it is disappointing because our men had the potential to win it. Regardless, I am proud of how our team has competed all year long.”

“Our women are going to be a lot better moving forward and could be a top-three caliber team next fall while our guys shouldn’t drop off at all. We will graduate some of our top guys in Ryan, Oisin and John – those guys have done more for this program as anyone – but we have a bunch of good guys coming back and one of the strongest recruiting classes we have ever had. Today is definitely tough but we are excited about our future.”