SEARCY, Ark. – Oklahoma Baptist continued its dominance in women’s cross country as the Bison won their fifth-straight Great American Championship on Saturday at the Harding University Cross Country Course.
RESULTS
ALL-GAC TEAM
The Bison placed all of its five scoring runners inside the top 17 to win the team title by 12 points. Emma Downing, the individual champion at the Spring 2021 Championships, placed second to pace the team. Sophia Strange placed fifth and earned the league’s Freshman of the Year award. Kayla McGruder finished ninth, Anna Kathleen Harris took 11
th and Addison Brooks crossed in 17
th to round out the team scoring. Head Coach Adam Godwin won Coach of the Year.
The Bison became just the third GAC program to win at least five-straight conference titles. In golf, Henderson State’s men won five straight from 2014 to 2018 while Arkansas Tech’s women won five in a row from 2015 through 2019.
For the second-straight GAC Championships, Arkansas Tech earned the runner-up trophy. Three Golden Suns – Calli Beshore, Ashlynn Mays and Karina Maravillas – produced top-10 finishes. Marcie Cudworth, Morganne Browning and Mandy Syroka all finished inside the top 20.
Led by the GAC individual champion and Runner of the Year Aaliyah Regg-Wajid, East Central finished in third. Her winning time, 17:36.1, ranks as the fifth-fastest time in Championship history. She finished second at the previous two GAC Championships. Abigael Kemboi took third. Barbara Johnson added a 14
th-place showing.
The hosting Lady Bisons took fourth, led by Nieves Megias’ fourth-place result. Jada Trice and Molly Passmore each added top-15 finishes. Ouachita equaled its best showing by taking fifth. Jaci McGregor became the program’s first First-Team performer after she took sixth.
Southern Arkansas edged out Southwestern Oklahoma State for sixth. Logan Warren led SAU by finishing in 16
th. Southeastern Oklahoma State finished in eighth, narrowly ahead of Southern Nazarene, Henderson State and Northwestern Oklahoma State. Arkansas-Monticello rounded out the meet.
The top 10 runners earned First-Team All-GAC honors while finishers 11 through 20 placed on the All-GAC Second Team.
The league also recognized its Elite and Distinguished Scholar Athletes. Four –Harding’s Brianna Hall and Molly Passmore, East Central’s Katie Cowger and Henderson State’s Becca Niedzwiedz all garnered the Elite Scholar honor.
Ouachita’s Kristen Holeyfield, Alexandria Huse, Grace Loftin and Kendal Moyer; Southern Arkansas’ Bronwyn Buchanan, Carley Hale, Cecilia Quesada and Leah Sanders; Henderson State’s Jaci Ammons, Martha Mosqueda and Kaylie Wheeles; Arkansas-Monticello’s Courtney Rhodes, East Central’s Johnson, Northwestern Oklahoma State’s Melissa Perez, Oklahoma Baptist’s Emma Downing, Southeastern Oklahoma State’s Megan Rose and Southwestern Oklahoma State’s Bailey Richardson all claimed the Distinguished Scholar accolade.