Prior to beginning their regular season, the Eastern men’s and women’s cross country teams will both compete in the Peace To Meece 5K event at the Panther Trail.

The event, currently in its third year, is held in memory of Ryan Meece, a former member of the Eastern cross country and track and field teams from 1993 to 1998. Meece died on Sept. 1, 2009, after spending 19 days in an intensive care unit battling a brain injury.

For the men’s and women’s Panther cross country teams, the meet will serve as a warm up for their EIU Walt Crawford Open on Sept. 9, also at the Panther Trail.

Last year’s event was won by Jason Springer, former Eastern cross country and track runner with a time of 15:40.62. Current Panther, sophomore Ryan Ballard, took second in the event during his freshman season, finishing behind Springer at 15:45.49. Other Panthers, sophomore Danny Delaney, junior Graham Morris, red-shirt junior Nick Brehm and former Panthers Wes Sheldon and Connor Kustief all finished inside the top ten.

The highest finishing Panther woman was junior Erika Ramos, who was not only the highest finishing Panther woman, but was also the highest finishing overall woman. Ramos finished with a time of 19:39.75.

Other top finishing Panther women included junior Britney Whitehead, junior Gaby Duenas and red-shirt senior Megan Gingerich.

Aside from holding the annual event, Peace to Meece (P2M) also serves as a charity organization. The organization gives a $1,000 scholarship to Eastern, as well as donating 175 pairs of running shoes to the Give Running organization, a group that uses running to instill in disadvantaged youth the character traits and skills that serve as a foundation for success. Peace to Meece also helps the college fund for Keagan and Kennedy Meece, the children of Ryan.

The Panthers enter the 2011 season as the No. 2 ranked team in the preseason Ohio Valley Conference rankings. Eastern Kentucky holds the No. 1 spot, as the Colonels also won last year’s title.

After this meet and the team’s only home meet the following week, the team will travel to Illinois State, Notre Dame and Bradley before the OVC championships in Richmond, Ky., and the NCAA Midwest Regional at Northern Illinois. The NCAA national championship will take place at the Gibson Championship Course in Terra Haute, Ind.