The Ohio Valley Conference championship race was full of firsts, once agains, almosts and out-of the-blue’s for Eastern’s cross country teams this past weekend.

While the men once again took first and defended their title, the women finished fourth; a mere five points behind third place.

It was abnormally hot Saturday in Puryear, Tenn., reaching a high of 80 degrees at 10:45 a.m., the time the men were scheduled to race. The heat greatly affected both the men’s and women’s races to a point where ambulances were needed.

When the women started, coach John McInerney said it was about 78 degrees with 80 percent humidity, which is quite a change in weather for the Eastern runners.

Coming from a week of training in 30 to 40 degree weather, Eastern’s women were not prepared for this type of heat. Stephanie Bone, who finished third overall and first for the Panthers, said she believed Eastern was possibly affected more than the other teams there.

“I know most of the other schools are a little bit more south than us, and the weather was a little warmer there,” Bone said. “We were coming from cooler temperatures and had to jump into August-like heat.”

It was obvious in some of the women’s races that Eastern’s women were having an off day, but Bone and junior Amanda Schutte didn’t let the heat take over them.

Bone finished in third place, one place better than last year, and ran the best race of her season. Schutte, who didn’t even make the conference team last year, finished 12th and second for Eastern. Both women finished with all-conference honors, this being a first in Schutte’s collegiate career.

Overall, McInerney wasn’t upset with the way his women finished.

“I am very pleased with the way they went out aggressively and went out after it,” McInerney said. “They got right out and only finished five points behind a top three place.”

When the men began their race, the temperature was at 80 degrees with an 85 percent humidity level. These conditions were enough to take three men out of the race, causing them to faint from heat exhaustion. One of the men who passed out was Dan Strackeljahn, the Panthers’ fifth man.

“Dan was having a beautiful race, running in eighth place, and only had about 1000 meters to go when he passed out,” he said. “It was a really scary situation.”

Strackeljahn said he remembers everything up until he fainted, but cannot remember what happened during the 40-minute period he was passed out.

“We were rolling as a team, then the front three pulled away.” Strackeljahn said. “Eastern Kentucky had a few guys that came past me, and I was working really hard to keep up with them. Then, all of a sudden, it just hit me.”

Even with Strackeljahn out of the race, the men still worked together and pulled off another win. Eastern finished first through third, eighth and 15th.

Senior Jeff Jonaitis and sophomores Jacob Stout and David Carlson led almost the entire race.

“We just took it away from the beginning,” McInerney said.

“I have never seen Jeff so determined- even throughout the week- and Stout and Carlson are just some real tough young guys. Those guys really stepped it up.”

Senior Jackson Johnson was Eastern’s fourth man in eighth place, and sophomore Scott McNamer stepped up and filled Strackeljahn’s fifth man position, finishing in 15th place.

McInerney was extremely pleased with McNamer’s effort and finish. For a man who was Eastern’s seventh or eighth man and kind of “snuck on the team,” McNamer really put forth a suprising race, McInerney said.

“He had fire in his eyes the whole race,” McInerney said. “Scott is just a quiet kid who stepped up and got the job done.”

“I knew that coach had said the fifth, sixth, and seventh men were going to be just as important as the first three, so I just took that and ran with it,” said McNamer.

Although McNamer was one the main contributors to the Panther’s win, Jonaitis led the Panthers to their success.

Jonaitis said he holds the conference and regional races as his most important meets of the season, so naturally, he was nervous going into them. This OVC race was Jonaitis’ last, and he is relieved that it’s finally over.

“It’s good to finally be out of Dan Mackey’s shadow,” Jonaitis said. “It was kind of a relief that I actually won and that it is all over now. I also couldn’t be happier to go out my senior year with another team championship.”

Through all their tribulations, the men remained strong and really worked as a team to produce another team title. McInerney was very pleased with their effort.

“For us to take care of business the way we did was just a great team effort,” McInerney said. “This is the kind of team depth we always talk about, and it really showed through this weekend.”

Both cross country teams have a two week break before their next competion in the NCAA Regional Championships at Stillwater, Okla.