#22 Women's Cross Country 11/20/2019 4:19:00 PM

Stars set for NAIA Championships

No. 25 OCU coming off fifth straight SAC title

VANCOUVER, Wash. – Oklahoma City University prepares for its final race of the season in the NAIA women's cross country national championships 1:30 p.m. CST Friday at the Fort Vancouver National Historic Site.
OCU – who is coming off their fifth straight Sooner Athletic Conference title – enter the championship meet ranked 25th in the latest NAIA women's cross country poll.
Also competing in Vancouver are all but one of the top 12 finishers from last year starting with Oregon Tech, Madonna (Mich.), Taylor (Ind.), Southern Oregon, top-ranked SCAD Atlanta (Ga.), Aquinas (Mich.), Embry-Riddle (Ariz.), St. Francis (Ill.), Lewis-Clark State (Idaho), College of Idaho and Milligan (Tenn.). SAC foe Wayland Baptist (Texas) will not be competing after finishing ninth at the 2019 NAIA Championships.
In total, there are 37 teams and 89 individual qualifiers racing in Friday's championships. There will be live results as well as a live video stream of the awards ceremony following the race at approximately 3:30 p.m. CST.
"I believe the women have been under ranked all year," OCU head coach Matt Aguero said. "I expect them to prove that on Friday. This is a young but tough team."
Topping the group for Oklahoma City is Sarah Olamide. Olamide, a freshman from Lagos, Nigeria, won her first Sooner Athletic Conference individual title with a time of 18 minutes, 27.4 seconds and was named South Central Regional women's runner of the year.
Olamide posted a victory at the NAIA Mid-States Classic on Oct. 26, landing a conference runner of the week award for Oct. 21-27. Olamide also competed at the Missouri Southern Stampede on Sept. 21 and Chile Pepper Festival on Oct. 5.
Eight OCU runners received all-SAC recognition at the SAC championship meet on Nov. 9. The runners are Madison Altom, Macey Cox, Kaitlyn Heffernan, Sheridan Hoyer, Delaney Mayo, Anna Mitchell, Olamide and Alexas Vargas.
"Five of our seven runners will be running in their first national meet," Aguero said. "Our two seniors, Sheridan [Hoyer] and Alexas [Vargas], have ran in multiple national championships and big races. Our younger athletes will follow their lead and be ready to race."
This is the sixth year that the championship will be hosted in Vancouver, Wash. The conditions for Friday are expected to have sunny skies and with temperatures hovering around 42 degrees, including a light wind of 2 mph out of the west northwest.
Oklahoma City will be the only SAC team competing on Friday. John Brown's (Ark.) Allika Pearson, Texas Wesleyan's Melissa Gonzalez and Science & Arts' (Okla.) Sharon Jebet and Roshae Burrell will compete as individuals.

Print Friendly Version

Players Mentioned

Macey Currie: 5' 3"; Sophomore

Sheridan Hoyer: 5' 6"; Senior

Delaney Mayo: Senior

Alexas Vargas: 5' 1"; Senior

Madison Altom: 5' 5"; Freshman

Anna Mitchell: 5' 5"; Freshman

Kaitlyn Heffernan: Freshman

Sarah Olamide: Freshman

Players Mentioned

Macey Currie
: 5' 3"; Sophomore

Sheridan Hoyer
: 5' 6"; Senior

Delaney Mayo
: Senior

Alexas Vargas
: 5' 1"; Senior

Madison Altom
: 5' 5"; Freshman

Anna Mitchell
: 5' 5"; Freshman

Kaitlyn Heffernan
: Freshman

Sarah Olamide
: Freshman