MAGNOLIA, Ark. – Harding secured its third-straight Great American Conference Men’s Track & Field Championship as the Bisons won six events on Friday. Oklahoma Baptist finished second. East Central’s Peter Kipkemboi earned the Most Valuable Player award.
The Bisons’ Dakarai Bush repeated his 2022 double by winning the 200- and 400-meter dashes. He established an event record in the 400 with a time of 46.01 seconds. He ran the anchor leg of the victorious 4x100-meter relay team. Their time, 40.31 seconds, also set a Championship record. Tad Kirby repeated as the winner in the 100-meter dash after crossing the line in 10.77 seconds and reigning national champion Vlad Malykhin won the pole vault for the second-straight year. Spencer Helms took first in the discus with a winning throw of 51.71 meters. The Bisons’ Don Hood won Coach of the Year.
|| CHAMPIONSHIP RESULTS || PHOTO GALLERIES ||
Kipkemboi won three events on Friday - the 800, 1500 and 5000. He produced an NCAA Provisional time in the 1500, 3:48.61, and set meet records in the 1500 and the 5000 14:45.62. He became the first Tiger recognized as MVP. As a team, ECU placed fourth.
Oklahoma Baptist scored event victories from Boone Bennett in the 110-meter hurdles, Sean Dixon in the 400-meter hurdles and Alexander Schovanec in the shot put. Schovanec’s mark, 17.46 meters, represented a personal record and ranks 15th in the country. The Bison closed out the meet by winning the 4x400-meter relay with an NCAA Provisional time of 3:13.37.
Hosting Southern Arkansas took third. The Muleriders’ Derrick Onyeador won the triple jump when he lept 14.09 meters on his final attempt. Northwestern Oklahoma State finished fifth, three points ahead of Ouachita Baptist and 13 points clear of Southern Nazarene.
The GAC also handed out its Elite and Distinguished Scholar Athlete Awards - Presented by Conway Regional Health System. Harding’s Jacob Wood and Ouachita Baptist’s Whit Lawrence received the Elite Scholar award.
A total of 19 GAC standouts earned the Distinguished Scholar Accolade in Ouachita Baptist’s Brit Hawkins, Ethan Kailey, Micah Meeks, Cade Swindle and Josh Tibbs; Oklahoma Baptist’s Etienne James, Carson Kardokus, Caden Martin and Jentezen Smith; Southern Arkansas’ Joseph Boyd, Blake Castor and Pedro Cervantes; East Central’s Peter Kimaiyo and Maverick Stephenson, Harding’s Spencer Helms and Tommy Valente, Southern Nazarene’s Will Ramirez and Dylan Warden plus Northwestern Oklahoma State’s Zachary Cox.