Lady Bison Favorites for Conference Crown

SHAWNEE – Oklahoma Baptist women's cross country was tabbed the favorites to repeat as Great American Conference champions according to the GAC preseason coaches' poll released Wednesday afternoon. The poll was voted on by the league's 12 head coaches, and coaches were not allowed to vote for their own team.
 
Oklahoma Baptist received 10 of the 12 available first place votes in the poll and had 120 total points. The Lady Bison return four of their top five finishers from last year's championship squad, including All-American and GAC runner up Sydney Lawrence. Kaylee Large Crowson and Emily Sechrist also finished in the top four of the championship meet last season, while Tesa Potter returns as well after placing tenth last year.
 
East Central received a first place vote and enters the poll in second place with 109 points, followed closely by Harding in third. Harding scored 104 points and received the last available first place vote.
 
A significant drop in points from third to fourth sees Arkansas Tech receive 86 points, and Southern Arkansas scored 80 points in the poll to round out the top five. The rest of the poll in order: Southeastern Oklahoma State (67 points), Southwestern Oklahoma State (65 points), Southern Nazarene (57 points), Northwestern Oklahoma State (38 points), Henderson State (27 points), Ouachita Baptist (26 points) and Arkansas-Monticello (13 points).
 
The Lady Bison begin the season on Saturday, Sept. 1 at the Central Oklahoma Land Run in Edmond. Oklahoma Baptist has won six straight meets to open the regular season, including every UCO Land Run dating back to 2015.