SHAWNEE, Okla. – Harding captured the inaugural Great American Conference Track & Field Championships, on Friday from Eddie Hurt Jr. Memorial Stadium on the campus of Oklahoma Baptist University, led by the performance of Most Valuable Athlete Sarah Coleman.
Coleman tallied 23.5 points, highlighted by runner-up finishes in the heptathlon and 100-meter hurdles. She took third in the high jump and ran on the Lady Bisons’ 4x100 relay that finished fourth and on the 4x400 relay team that placed third.
Harding picked up four individual titles. In the field, Bailey Pearson won the high jump, Kaeli Miller scored a title in the pole vault with the top mark in the GAC this season, 10-6; and Caroline Embry leapt to a win in the triple jump. The Lady Bisons’ lone win in a track event came in 1,500-meter when Kelsey Taylor won with an NCAA Provisional time of 4 minutes, 33.85 seconds.
Final Results || Friday Photo Gallery
Southern Arkansas finished runner-up at the GAC Championships. The Lady Muleriders’ Kenisha Bryant scored 20 points as she won the 400, finished a close second in the 400 hurdles and anchored a 4x400 team that finished second. Oklahoma Christian took third while Southern Nazarene placed fourth followed by East Central.
Host Oklahoma Baptist, ineligible for the team championship as a transitioning program, scored six individual championship, accentuated by the double from Kim Robinson. She produced the top mark in the GAC this season in the long jump, 18-10 1/2; and the best distance in the shot put, 39-7. The Bison swept the hurdles events as Leah Molter won the 100 and Brenda Barnett grabbed a victory in the 400. Iman Dumas paced a 1-2-3-4-5 finish in the 800 and Abby Hoover won the 5,000 by 20 seconds. The Bison closed the meet by winning the 4x400 relay.
Rogers State, also ineligible for the team title, dominated the sprints, led by Audrianna Morgan. She won 100- and 200-meter events with the fastest times - 11.78 and 24.36 seconds, respectively - seen by a GAC runner this season. She ran the second leg of the winning 4x100 relay and the opening leg of the 4x400 relay team that finished fifth.