Hough wins 5,000 meters to pace Eagles at league meet

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DIANAPOLIS—Freshman distance runner Cameron Hough (Olney, Illinois) raced to a first-place finish and NCAA II provisional qualifying time in the 5,000 meters Saturday to lead University of Southern Indiana Women’s Track & Field to a fourth-place finish at the Great Lakes Valley Conference Indoor Championships this weekend.
 
Hough earned first-team All-GLVC honors as she crossed the finish line in 16 minutes, 55.89 seconds, which ranks her 18th in the nation with a converted time of 16:48.17.
 
The Screaming Eagles, who finished the meet with 48 points, netted 20 points alone from the 5,000 meters as senior All-American Jennifer Comastri(Indianapolis, Indiana) and sophomore Lauren Greiwe (West Harrison, Indiana) were third and fifth, respectively, with NCAA II provisional qualifying times of 17:22.35 and 17:29.98.
 
Comastri also finished third in the 3,000 meters with an NCAA II provisional qualifying time of 9:58.43 as she paced USI with a team-high tying 12 points.
 
Sophomore McKenna Cavanaugh (New Albany, Indiana) also accounted for 12 points as she was fifth in the 3,000 meters and sixth in the mile Sunday after helping USI’s distance medley relay team to a fourth-place finish Saturday night. Cavanaugh reached provisional times in the DMR (12:03.38), the mile (4:58.63) and the 3,000 meters (10.02.06).
 
Fellow classmate Emma Brown (Evansville, Indiana) also had a strong showing for USI as she aided USI’s DMR while finishing sixth in the 800 meters and fifth in the 4×400-meter relay. She also matched Cavanaugh and Comastri in accounting for 12 points.
 
In addition to USI’s performance on the track, USI nominated freshman sprinter Valerie Kehl (Tell City, Indiana) as its James R. Spalding Sportsmanship Award winner.
 
USI will find out what its NCAA II Indoor Championship fate will be later this week. Several student-athletes have posted NCAA II provisional marks for the Eagles during the indoor season, with Winders being a virtual lock for the 3,000 meters.