Thrice as Nice, Bison Women Take GAC Title

ARKADELPHIA, Ark. – Not one, not two, but three times. Led by Freshman of the Year Jana le Roux, the Oklahoma Baptist women's cross country team blew the doors off the competition and were crowned the Great American Conference champions for a third consecutive year.
 
Le Roux, Allison Derry, Tesa Potter, Berkley Price, and Kayla McGruder were all named First Team All-GAC after the race. Head coach Matt Kennedy was named GAC Coach of the Year; it's the third time in three years for Kennedy to take home the honor.
 
All five of the Bison's top five runners placed in the top, scoring 28 points in the process to outstrip second place by 22 points. More impressive, the top five for OBU all finished within 37.1 seconds of each other, the best mark by any of the top five schools by nearly 30 seconds.

"It's been the theme all year," said Kennedy. "The strength of our core allowed us to pack inside the top 10. To win conference three times isn't an easy feat and I'm really proud of how the team has stepped up and executed since the Chile Pepper Festival."
 
Le Roux crossed the line in third place with a time of 18:29.0, beating her best time of the year by seven seconds. Derry was right behind Le Roux, clocking in at 18:30.8 to claim fourth overall. Potter claimed fifth in a time of 18:50.2, her best time of the season. Price was next across the line, completing the course in 18:52.8 for sixth. McGruder was OBU's final scoring runner, crossing in 19:06.1 to take home 10th overall.
 
Displacers for OBU were Alexzandria Jaimz in 34th with a time of 20:24.3 and Zoe Jennings in 36th with a time of 20:27.7.
 
Also running at the GAC Championship for OBU were Shane Rinner (20:36.2, 47th), Caitlin Mertz (20:39.6, 48th), Maddie St. Cyr (20:56.2, 50th), Kaylee Russell (21:47.7, 72nd), Allie Morton (22:02.7, 78th), Ashley Ellis (22:37.7, 86th) and Ashley Scrivner (23:31.2, 102nd),
 
Oklahoma Baptist returns to action on Saturday, Nov. 9 when they make the trip north to Joplin, Missouri for the Central Region Championships to fight for a third-straight berth at the NCAA Division II National Championships.