WICHITA FALLS, Texas (Oct. 8, 2015) – Oklahoma Christian cross country coach Wade Miller wanted to test the Lady Eagles in a 6,000-meter race before the postseason, when events are run at that distance. Safe to say the results were good for OC.

Junior Layne Hammer won individual top honors for the second time in as many races, leading the Lady Eagles to the team title on Thursday in the Midwestern State Invitational at Lake Wichita Park.

Hammer covered the 6,000 meters in a career-best 22:51.5 to outdistance second-place Madison Brown of Central Oklahoma by 39.1 seconds. Her win came less than two weeks after she won the College Division race in the Oklahoma State Cowboy Jamboree in Stillwater, Okla.

OC posted a team score of 29 in the four-team event, with UCO placing second at 45.

"We had a good team effort today," Miller said. "It was a good prep for the conference meet, with the heat and the 6K distance. Layne ran another strong race up front with the win and we had a good pack. We have a few things to work on before the conference meet, but we have made some progress over the last few weeks."

The Lady Eagles had five of the top nine finishers in the 29-woman field. After Hammer, freshman Aubrey Watson placed fifth in 24:27, followed closely by junior Maci Rich, who was sixth in 24:33.9. Senior Tara Lewis was eighth in 25:08.6 and freshman Molly McQuirk was ninth in 25:12.

Junior Katie Jones placed 14th in 25:41, with junior Sarah Cobb not far behind, finishing 16th in 25:50.2. Also competing in the race for OC were sophomore Aubree Hughes (28th in 27:44.1) and junior Christina Pulpan (29th in 29:03.2).

The Lady Eagles posted an average time of 24:26.6.

Southwestern Oklahoma State and host Midwestern State were the other two teams in the race. Southwestern had a team score of 62, while Midwestern State had a 102 score.

OC won't race again until Oct. 24, when the Lady Eagles compete in the Heartland Conference Championship in Laredo, Texas.