SEARCY, Ark. – The Oklahoma Baptist men's track and field team finished runner-up at the 2023 GAC Outdoor Championships after racking 197 points over the three-day event. Harding defended its title with 309 total points.
OBU notched five individual victories and crushed three GAC meet records en route to their second-place finish.
Junior thrower Alexander Schovanec accumulated 26 total points, the second-most of all athletes in the competition. Schovanec claimed top honors in the shot put with a meet-record heave of 16.89m (55-5) and in the discus (52.14m, 171-1). He rounded out his historic stretch with a personal-best throw in the hammer (49.89m, 163-8) that placed third.
Senior Matt Higdon obliterated the meet record in the hammer (56.14m), set by OBU alumni Saleem Fadel in 2019, with a mark of 59.10m (193-11).
In the javelin, Caden Martin placed third with a 48.61m (159-6) throw, while Jonathan Jones finished fourth with a mark of 46.91m (153-11).
Anthony Phillips took fourth in the pole vault with a clearance of 4.81m (15-9.25), before Isaiah Willis finished second in the long jump with a leap of 6.99m (22-11.25).
Trey Bartholomew and Jonathan Elix charted clearances of 2.08m (6-9.75) in the high jump for second and third place, respectively.
Jentezen Smith won the 400-meter hurdles with a personal-best NCAA DII qualifying finish of 52.87. Trailing in second was Aaryn Anderson, who also met the NCAA provisional standard with a time of 53.29.
Anderson added a third-place finish in the 110-meter hurdles after crossing in 14.40, good for his second qualifying mark.
Jax Holland and Jared Cheatwood claimed second and third in the 400-meter dash, clocking times of 48.40 and 48.42.
Isaiah Willis rounded out the individual running events with a 10.71 in the 100 meters that finished third.
Sloan Lewis led OBU in the decathlon with a third-place finish, piling up 5,905 points over 10 events. Caden Martin trailed behind in fifth with a total of 5,676 points.
Maxamillian Wheeler defended his title in the 3000-meter steeplechase, winning the event for the third straight year with a time of 9:16.02. Wheeler also ran a personal-best time in the 10,000 meters that finished fifth.
The Bison wrapped the day with a victory in the 4x400 relay. The squad of Brendan Sanders, Smith, Petersen, and Willis crossed in 3:16.88.
Oklahoma Baptist will return to action at the West Texas Last Chance meet on May 13 in Canyon, Texas.
