Redhawks sweep men's, women's titles in their own invitational

The Southeast Missouri State men's and women's cross country teams swept their own invitational for the third straight year Saturday at Capaha Park.

The men finished with 15 points, 29 ahead of second-place Memphis. St. Louis College of Pharmacy placed third in the three-team field with 61 points.

"It was a small meet, but it was good to see the guys do that well," Southeast coach Erin Heins said. "We were just using it as a tune-up for the conference championship next weekend."

Southeast claimed five of the top six individual spots in the men's race. Gabe Lutes won the 3.2-mile run in 16 minutes,16 seconds, followed by Danny Stults (16:21) in second, Kirk Nesbit (16:25) in third, Chris Herren (16:37) in fifth and Brad Demattei (16:40) in sixth. Brandon Karcher, who ran unattached, placed seventh in 17:19.

"It was good to see them all run in a pack for two miles, then Gabe put the hammer down there at the end," Heins said.

Murray State's John Gorey was fourth in 16:27.

On the women's side, the Redhawks finished first in the two-team race with 23 points in front of St. Louis College of Pharmacy with 40 points.

Jen Caywood placed first with a time of 19:07 to lead Southeast, and Juli Koenegstein was fifth in 19:49. Brittni Peck was seventh in 20:07, Amy Warren was eighth in 20:33, Hannah Korte was 10th in 20:43, and Sarah Verelst was 11th in 20:57.

Southeast will run Saturday in the Ohio Valley Conference championship meet at Eastern Ilinois in Charleston, Ill.