OKLAHOMA CITY (Sept. 15, 2021) – Her first collegiate cross country race win earned Kenya Bailey recognition on Wednesday as the Lone Star Conference's women's runner of the week.

Bailey, a junior from Ponca City, led OC to the team title last Friday in the Aggie Duels, hosted by Cameron at the Big Green Soccer Complex in Lawton.

Racing in a field of 64 women, Bailey began building her lead from the start of the 5,000-meter race and steadily increased it throughout. Bailey's time of 17:59.89 was more than 37 seconds better than her career best in cross country for that distance and she finished 64 seconds ahead of the runner-up, Victoria Rosas of Midwestern State (Texas).

Bailey's win was the first by an OC runner in a cross country race since Oct. 8, 2015, when former OC star Layne Hammer won the Midwestern State Invitational in Wichita Falls, Texas. That also was the last time before Friday the Eagles won the team title in any meet.

The conference runner-of-the-week honor is the second for Bailey. As a freshman in fall 2018, she was named as the Heartland Conference's runner of the week after the first race of her collegiate career.

Bailey is the first OC runner to receive the LSC weekly honor since current graduate assistant coach Kelsey Castillo did so in October 2019.