Lady Bison Crowned GAC Champions

MAGNOLIA, Ark. – (Results) Oklahoma Baptist won the program's first Great American Conference Women's Track & Field Championship Saturday at the Mulerider Track and Field Complex.
 
Head Coach Ford Mastin was named GAC Women's Coach of the Year for guiding OBU to the 17^th conference championship in program history. The previous 16 championships were won as members of the Sooner Athletic Conference.
 
The Lady Bison scored 213 total points to clinch the championship in their first year of eligibility. Harding finished second with 194 points and Southern Arkansas was third at 96 points. Oklahoma Christian (72) finished fourth, Rogers State (47) was fifth, East Central (14) placed sixth, Southern Nazarene (9) was seventh and Southwestern Oklahoma State (8) finished eighth.
 
A big Saturday that featured seven event wins propelled OBU past Harding after trailing by five points heading into the final day of competition. For the championship, the Lady Bison won nine events and set six new GAC high-water marks.
 
McKae Mitchell dominated the field and shattered the GAC record in the 400-meter run. She won the event in an NCAA Division II provisional qualifying time of 55.19 seconds, besting the previous mark of 57.18, set by Kenisha Bryant of Southern Arkansas in 2016, by nearly two full seconds. Sherine Van Der Westhuizen was second in 56.77 and Breanna Hurlbut picked up a sixth place finish with a time of 58.39.
 
Payton Wilson set a new GAC record in the pole vault, winning the event after clearing 10' 11.75" (3.35 meters). The previous high mark of 10'5.98" (3.20m) was shared by Harding's Kaili Miller and Diana Davis.
 
OBU broke their own record in the 4x400-meter relay in the final event of the night to cap off the championship weekend. Mitchell, JoziRose Mayfield, Kya Barnes and Van Der Westhuizen met a provisional qualifying mark at 3:47.13 to win the race and outpace the 2017 record time of 3:48.94.
 
Leah Molter swept the hurdles events, breaking her own GAC record in the process. She won the 400-meter hurdles in a record-breaking time of 1:00.85, beating her previous mark of 1:01.72 in 2017. Molter placed first in the 100-meter hurdles in 14.81 seconds. Isabella Lotz picked up a fourth place finish in the 100 hurdles in 15.53 seconds and Mayfield was third in the 400 hurdles at 1:02.45.
 
The Lady Bison scored 22 points in the 5000-meter run in the penultimate event of the meet. Abby Hoover won with a time of 18:05.98 and Sydney Lawrence finished second at 18:08.92. Allison Derry placed fourth at 18:42.57 and Zoya Timoshenko was fifth in 18:44.24.
 
Tesa Potter won the 1500-meter run in 4:42.93. Derry finished fourth in the event in 4:48.38 and Timoshenko was fifth at 4:51.49. Potter also had a second place finish in the 800-meter run in 2:16.32.
 
OBU opened up the running events with a second place finish in the 4x100-meter relay. Van Der Westhuizen, Mitchell, Molter and Shariah Anderson ran the relay in 47.42 seconds.
 
Mitchell picked up a third place finish in the 200-meter run with a time of 24.91 seconds and Van Der Westhuizen finished fifth in 25.29.
 
Dosha Owens finished third in the javelin throw at 115' 8.19" (35.26m) in the first event of the day. The javelin was originally scheduled for Friday but was postponed due to darkness.
 
OBU scored eight points in the shot put, including a third place finish from Julianna Horner at 41' 3.67" (12.59m) and a fifth place showing by Brittany Poe at a distance of 41' 0.13" (12.50m).
 
Lotz took third in the long jump at 17' 0.33" (5.19m) and sixth in the triple jump with a distance of 34' 2.75" (10.43m). Evelyn Carswell was fourth in the high jump after clearing 5' 2.99" (1.60m) and placed second in the triple jump at 35' 6" (10.82m).
 
The Lady Bison will continue the outdoor season at the Drake Relays, beginning on April 26.