SEARCY, Ark. – The Oklahoma Baptist women's track and field team claimed the Great American Conference outdoor title for a second straight season, amassing a record-setting 256.5 points over the three-day event. It is the third time the Bison have won the outdoor championship since joining the GAC.
OBU won the title by a 66.5-point margin, topping Harding, who finished second after charting 190 points. Southern Arkansas (149), Arkansas Tech (61), and Northwestern Oklahoma State (52) rounded out the top five finishing teams.
Sophomore Sophia Strange tied for the league's most valuable athlete after racking up 26 points, while head coach Ford Mastin was named the women's Coach of the Year for the third time in his career.
Oklahoma Baptist recorded 12 wins, including 10 individual victories, and broke three GAC meet records en route to their championship.
Strange won the 10,000-meter race on Thursday with a time of 36:49.97, breaking her GAC meet record set in 2022. She added another win in the 5000m, crossing the finish line in 17:56.84 and a third-place finish in the 1500m (4:46.08).
Freshman Olivia Tate totaled 25 points after victories in the 100m, 200m, and for her participation on the Bison's winning relay teams. Tate broke the GAC meet record with a time of 11.67 and earned an NCAA DII qualifying mark in the 200 meters with a time of 24.18.
Zoee Weaver and Kayla McGruder picked up wins in the 800 and 1500 meters, recording times of 2:16.40 and 4:43.17, respectively. McGruder also won the 3000-meter steeplechase with a meet record-breaking time of 11:03.01.
Mary McKey defended her title in the 400-meter hurdles with a 1:00.77 winning time. The finish broke the meet record she set a year ago. Finishing second in the event was teammate Tahlor Brown with an NCAA qualifying mark of 1:01.88.
McKey claimed top honors in the 100-meter hurdles in 14.32, while Brown and Elisabeth Jones trailed in second (14.72) and third (14.76).
Sophomore Anisha Henderson and freshman Flora Dupans led the field events with wins in the long jump and discus. Henderson defended her title with a leap of 5.96m (19-6.75), a tie of her GAC meet record set last season. Dupans charted a heave of 46.93m (154-0) to take top honors in her event.
Henderson added a third-place finish in the triple jump (11.33m, 37-2.25), while Dupans claimed third in the shot put (12.76m, 41-10.5).
In the high jump, Jamora Horace placed second with a mark of 1.65m (5-5), while Emily Julian took second in the pole vault with a clearance of 3.82m (12-6.25).
Kamdyn Moody accumulated 4,415 points in the heptathlon to finish third, while Horace piled up 3,668 points for fifth. Moody's run featured a win in the long jump (5.04m, 16-6.50), while Horace took top honors in the high jump (1.63m, 5-4.25).
Concluding the day's events were OBU's victories in the 4x400 (3:50.92) and 4x100 (46.57). The latter, earned by the quartet of Henderson, Tate, Brown, and McKey, met the NCAA DII provisional standard.
Oklahoma Baptist will return to action at the West Texas Last Chance meet on May 13 in Canyon, Texas.
