Sooner Athletic Conference

WBU Women Win NAIA Outdoor Track and Field Championship

Posted by Rhane Jeffress - Sat, May 24, 2008 - [ Women's Track & Field ] - Viewed 1365 times

Edwardsville, Ill.---The Wayland Baptist women's track team scored 44 points during the final day of competition to win the first NAIA Outdoor Track and Field Championship in school history.

The Pioneers tallied 80 total points to take the banner over second place Simon Fraser University, which ended the three-day meet with 69 points. The University of British Columbia was third with 66, followed by defending national champion Azusa Pacific University which had 64, and Oklahoma Baptist with 51.

The Pioneer women entered Saturday with 36 points tied for first place with British Columbia, but the team from Canada picked up 19 early points when it finished 2-3-4 in the marathon.

Wayland begin its steady march toward the championship on the final day when the 4x100 relay team successfully defended its 2007 title. The foursome of Latanya Nation, Kimberly Smith, Caroline Oladipo and Keleisha Ross ran a 46.21 to narrowly defeat conference-rival Oklahoma Baptist by .23 of a second.

Freshmen Caroline Karunde and Purity Biwott then added six points each with third place finishes in the 1500- and 800-meters respectively.

Smith picked up her second individual championship of the meet---she won the 100-meters on Friday--- with a win in the 200-meters (24.18). Those ten points, combined with Ross's fifth place finish (24.68) was enough to put Wayland over the top.

The Pioneers, knowing they had the title wrapped up, completed their day with a second place finish in the 4x400 relay. Kydia Echols, Demetrice Gilliam, Oladipo and Ross ran a 3:47.71 to finish behind only OBU.

Ten of the eleven women representing Wayland at the national meet scored points. Head coach Brian Whitlock loses just one senior off the team, Oladipo. Of the remainder, five are classified as freshmen, one is a sophomore, and two are juniors.

WBU got 24 points on Friday, highlighted by Smith's win in the 100-meters. The freshman nosed out the 2007 champion, Lanece Clarke of McKendree University with a time of 11.68 seconds. Clarke's time was 11.72.

Also on Friday, Echols, Erin Britton, Karunde and Biwott shattered the school record in the 4x800 relay on their way to a second place finish. Last year, the Pioneer foursome came in fifth at the national meet with a record-breaking time of 9:12.27. This year's group cut over 20 seconds off that time with an 8:50.94, just missing the championship which was won by Simon Fraser University in a time of 8:50.36.

Oladipo, competing in her final meet as a Pioneer, earned six points and All-American honors on Friday with a jump of 12.27 meters (40-3.25) in the triple jump.

The WBU men return home with nine points and an All-American. Sophomore Kirby Dunn got six points with his third place finish in the 1500 meters (3:50.61). The 4x400 meter relay team of Jason Carter, Caleb McLean, Mario Scott and Dominic Palmer ran a season-best 3:14.53 for a seventh place finish.

WBU has a combined nine indoor titles between the men and women's programs, including the women's championship this year, but had been unable to win an outdoor banner until Saturday.