SHAWNEE, Okla. –  Led by 2022 Great American Conference Men’s Track & Field Championship MVP Dakarai Bush, Harding rallied on the final day to win its second GAC Championship on Saturday from the Hurt Memorial Athletic Complex on the campus of Oklahoma Baptist University.

Competing in five events, Bush won the 200-meter dash and the 110 hurdles. He added a second-place showing in the 400. He also ran on both relays. The 4x100 team took third and the 4x400 team finished second.

 2022 GAC TRACK & FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS - FINAL RESULTS

Bush collected two of Harding’s seven event victories on Saturday. In the field events, Dorian Chaigneau repeated as the pole vault champion. Bisons claimed the top six finishing positions in the event. Antiwain Jones won the high jump and Tad Kirby placed first in the long jump. In the running events, Thibault Waeles repeated as the champion in the 800 and Fallou Gaye took first in the 400 hurdles for the second-straight year.

The Bisons finished with 268 points, 20 clear of Oklahoma Baptist in the tightest finish in GAC history. The Bison won both relays. They claimed the 4x100 for the third-straight time and repeated as champions of the 4x400. Mahcoe Smith, who ran the opening leg of the 4x100, defended his title in the 100 to become the GAC’s second two-time champion of the event. Shirvante Knauls crossed first in the 400.

Southern Arkansas finished in third. The Muleriders’ Ja'Kamron Zackery claimed the title in discus and Darius Trimble led a 1-2-3 finish in the shot put.

East Central’s Amos Pkiach continued his dominance in the distance races. After capturing the 10,000 on Thursday night, he won the 1500 and 5000 on Saturday. He became the first GAC male runner to sweep the three distance events. 

Led by Pkiach, East Central took fourth. Southern Nazarene claimed fifth followed by Ouachita.

The GAC also handed out its Elite and Distinguished Scholar Athlete awards. East Central’s Carson Sandvik, Denzel Vilsaint and Elijah Woodward, Harding’s Matt Hipshire and Oklahoma Baptist’s Blake Cope received the Elite Scholar award as all five own 4.00 GPAs.

A total of eight GAC standouts earned the Distinguished Scholar Accolade in Harding’s Paxton Davis and Daniel Watrous, Oklahoma Baptist’s Parker Ables and Avery Hanna, Southern Arkansas’ Briston Rains and Darius Trimble plus Southern Nazarene’s Darius Blackshire and Christian Escritt.