SHAWNEE – On this date two years ago, the Oklahoma Baptist women's track and field team as well as the women's tennis team took home GAC Championships.
Bison Crowned GAC Champions
4/21/2018
MAGNOLIA, Ark. – Head Coach
Ford Mastin was named GAC Women's Coach of the Year for guiding OBU track to the 17th conference championship in program history. The previous 16 championships were won as members of the Sooner Athletic Conference.
The 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 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 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.
Bison Win GAC Tournament
4/21/2018
BENTONVILLE, Ark. – Oklahoma Baptist scored a 5-2 win over Southeastern Oklahoma State to claim its first ever Great American Conference postseason women's tennis championship.
The Bison took a 2-1 lead after doubles with
Kateryna Shkot and
Kim Moosbacher winning at No. 1, 8-5, and
Tahlia Walsh and
Madeleine Boepple taking No. 2 doubles, 8-6. Southeastern tied the team score early in singles, 2-2, but OBU won going away.
Walsh defeated India Shiaelis at No. 3 singles, 6-0, 6-3, to land OBU a 3-2 lead. Moosbacher put OBU one win away with a 7-5, 6-0 win at No. 2 singles over Luisa Auffarth and
Alex Bowers got the honor of clinching the title with a No. 4 singles win over Paula Martinez, 6-3, 6-0.
Boepple was ahead 6-2, 6-5 at No. 5 singles and Shkot held a 7-6 (10-8), 3-3 lead at No. 1 singles.
Also On Thie Day:
• Lacey Herbert (T/F) wins Heptathlon (2017)
• Andrew Worley (T/F) wins Decathlon (2017)
• Zach Oliver wins SAC Men's Golf Individual Championship (2015)
• OBU Lacrosse wins first ever game in team's history over the University of Dallas (2013)
