SAN ANGELO, Texas (Oct. 31, 2020) –
Kenya Bailey moved up the Lone Star Conference cross country ranks, posting a seventh-place finish to lead Oklahoma Christian's women's team on Saturday in the league meet at Angelo State (Texas).
On a sunny morning with temperatures in the 50s, Bailey, a junior from Ponca City, covered the 6,000 meters in 22:42.21 to earn a second straight All-LSC honor after finishing 14th in last year's league race in Silver City, N.M. Bailey ran as high as fourth during this year's race.
She qualified as an individual for the Division II XC National Invitational, which will be run in Lubbock, Texas, on Nov. 14.
OC also had one other top-30 finisher in the LSC race in junior
Caroline Schwab of Andover, Kan., who posted a time of 24:04.43 and moved up 10 spots in the 110-woman field after the two-mile mark of the race.
The Eagles finished eighth in the 15-team field with a score of 181, two spots higher than in the 2019 LSC meet, which coach
Wade Miller saw as a positive.
"This team has come a long way over the past few years and our upperclassmen especially have really committed to the development process," Miller said. "Kenya and Carol especially had strong races and put themselves in great position! I'm really proud of the work this team has put in and I'm looking forward to seeing them continue to get better."
After Schwab, OC's next finishers were junior
Payton Duesing of Lantana, Texas (39th in 24:26.61) and junior
Emma Davison of Mason City, Iowa (24:36.47). Sophomore
Faith Lloyd of Ardmore, Okla., finished 79th in 26:20.68 while sophomore
Katie Dallimore of Paola, Kan., was 101st in 28:11.65.
Florance Uwajeneza of West Texas A&M took the individual title in dominant fashion, as her winning time of 20:50.60 was nearly 1½ minutes faster than that of the runner-up, Madison Brown of Dallas Baptist (Texas).
DBU, long a dominant team in the Heartland Conference before that league's demise, cruised to the team title with a score of 25, 60 points better than runner-up West Texas A&M. St. Edward's (Texas) was third with 107 points, followed by Texas A&M International with 132 and Midwestern State (Texas) with 156. Western New Mexico with 159 and Lubbock Christian (Texas) with 173 also finished ahead of OC.
The Eagles finished ahead of Texas-Tyler, Arkansas-Fort Smith, Texas-Permian Basin, Texas A&M-Kingsville, Cameron, Angelo State and Texas A&M-Commerce.
Runners from teams in the eight NCAA Division II leagues participating this fall in cross country have been invited to the Division II XC National Invitational. The race was created after the NCAA cancelled all of its fall sports championships for the fall season, citing the COVID-19 pandemic.
