STILLWATER, Okla. (Oct. 17, 2020) – Payton Duesing and Caroline Schwab each posted a personal-best time for 6,000 meters as Oklahoma Christian's women's team ran Saturday morning in the Oklahoma State Invitational on the OSU Cross Country Course.

OC was the only NCAA Division II squad in the seven-team field that otherwise consisted on Division I squads, including powers such as Brigham Young, Southern Utah and OSU and Kansas State, Oklahoma and Texas-El Paso. Unattached runners from Colorado also competed.

On a cool, crisp morning with temperatures in the 50s, Duesing, a junior from Lantana, Texas, finished 64th in the 75-woman field with a time of 24:51.2, with Schwab, a junior from Andover, Kan., two spots behind her in 24:56.3.

Junior Kenya Bailey of Ponca City led the Eagles, finishing 46th in 23:43.8, with junior Emma Davison of Mason City, Iowa, in 60th with a time of 24:43.9.

OC's other runners Saturday were sophomore Faith Lloyd of Ardmore (73rd in 27:48.2, in her season debut) and sophomore Katie Dallimore of Paola, Kan. (74th in 28:50.7).

Whittni Orton of BYU won the individual race in 20:27.8 while leading the Cougars to the team win too. BYU posted a team score of 22, with Southern Utah (62) edging OSU (68) for second. OC finished seventh with 187 points.

The Eagles now will focus on preparations for the Lone Star Conference Championship, to be run on Oct. 31 in San Angelo, Texas. Unlike the two meets in which OC has run on the Oklahoma State course, no fans will be allowed at the LSC race due to the COVID-19 pandemic.