SEMO cross country team's Megan Parks named OVC Co-Runner of the Week

Megan Parks represents the Southeast Missouri State women's cross country team as the Ohio Valley Conference Female Co-Runner of the Week, which was announced by the league on Tuesday.

"Megan has worked very hard to put herself in position to be one of the best in the conference," coach Ryan Lane said in a press release. "I look forward to her and the rest of our women's team racing [Eastern Kentucky], Belmont and Murray [State] this weekend as we try to prove our team is a force to be reckoned with."

A native of Bonne Terre, Missouri, Parks finished fourth with a time of 17 minutes, 24.1 seconds at the Ole Miss Rebel Invite on Friday in Oxford, Mississippi. It was the top 5k time in the OVC and bested Parks' personal record by almost 11 seconds.

This is the first conference runner of the week award for Parks, who's a senior. She shares the honor with Eastern Illinois' Maria Baldwin, who placed fourth at the Illinois State Invitational with a time of 17:56.79.

Southeast finished second in both the men's and women's races in Oxford, and Parks was the top finisher between both squads.