SHAWNEE, Okla. – On Saturday, at its home venue, the Eddie Hurt Jr. Memorial Track, Oklahoma Baptist won its first Great American Conference Men’s Track & Field Championship, as the Bison became the third-straight GAC team to win at their home track.
Hayden Ashley completed his busy GAC Championships by adding a win in the long jump, a third-place showing in the high jump and fourth-place results in the javelin and the pole vault to his triumph in the decathlon to net him Championship MVP honors. Bison head coach Ford Mastin received GAC Coach of the Year
In total, the Bison tallied seven individual titles and a relay victory as they tallied 201 points, the second-highest team total in GAC Championship history. Brandon Crowley won the 110-meter hurdles, Blake Rayner took first in the 800, Nathan Crowson claimed the title in the 1500, Nathaniel Worthy won the high jump, Spencer Lashley earned the pole vault championship and the team of Mahcoe Smith, Micah Brwer, Devontrae Young and Shirvante Knauls captured the 400-meter relay.
2019 GAC Track & Field Championships - Final Results
Southern Arkansas, the GAC champions a season ago, finished in second. Wesley Franklin won the 400 hurdles by more than one second; Aurthur Jeffery captured the triple jump for the third-straight year. He set the GAC Championship record with a jump of 15.24m, Gerald Pitts, won the shot put and took second in the discus and the hammer. SAU closed out the track portion of the GAC Championships by winning the 1600-meter relay, in season-best time of 3:12.44, a GAC Championship-record time and an NCAA Provisional mark. Ka’Ronce Higgins ran the third leg after he took second in the 100 and 200 and fourth in the long jump. Richard Barkhimer netted second-place showings in the high jump, javelin and long jump.
East Central recorded a team-best third-place result. Larry Filer picked up his second individual title of the meet as he won 5000 to pair it with his win in the steeplechase. Dilland Gardner registered a top-two finish in the discus for the fourth-straight year as he won for the second time with a throw of 48.47m. He added a runner-up finish in the shot put.
Harding placed fifth, followed by Oklahoma Christian and Southern Nazarene. The Bisons’ James Bowie, in the 110-meter hurdles, and Micah Langat, in the 800 both registered second-place finishes. The Eagles Javier Hernandez finished second to Franklin in the 400 hurdles and ran the third leg on their 1600-meter team that finished third.
Rogers State took sixth. RSU’s Alfred Thomas became the second man at the GAC Championships to win both the 100 and 200-meter dashes. He came within one one-hundredth of a second of the GAC Championship record in the 100. Quintin Powell broke his own GAC Championship record in the 400 with a time of 47.36 seconds.
The GAC also handed out its Elite and Distinguished Scholar Athlete award on Saturday. Filer and Harding’s Matthew Hipshire received the Elite Scholar award as both own 4.00 GPAs.
A total of nine GAC standouts earned the Distinguished Scholar Accolade in Oklahoma Baptist’s Ashley, Crowson and Andrew Worley; Harding’s Steven Konwent and Jared Mannon, East Central’s Tommy Grebe, Oklahoma Christian’s Trevor Talley, Rogers State’s Byrun Ratliff and Southern Nazarene’s Hunter Essex.