SHAWNEE, Okla. -- Wayland Baptist captured both the men's and women's Sooner Athletic Conference Cross Country Championships on Saturday. It is the first-ever league title for the Pioneer men and the third in the last four years for the women. Both teams will receive an automatic berth in the NAIA Cross Country Championships to be held Nov. 20 in Vancouver, Wash.

Milca Villegas

Wayland Baptist won the women's race with the top three finishers and four of the top five, led by individual champion Milca Villegas, a sophomore from Ft. Worth, in first with a time of 19:00.

Catherine Leubner, a sophomore from Big Spring, was second at 19:02, and red-shirt freshman Jennifer Secrest came in third in 19:09. Senior Diana Gutierrez of Dumas was fifth (19:19). All four of the top Wayland runners were named All-Conference.

"Milca was really impressive today," said WBU coach Brian Whitlock. "She led from start to finish, and that's hard to do, especially on a breezy day like today.

"Catherine ran by far her best race of the year, and Jennifer also ran extremely well. Diana struggled a little at the finish, but she did what she had to do."

WBU had 31 points, followed by Oklahoma Baptist with 45, Oklahoma Christian with 83, John Brown at 120, Lubbock Christian at 149, Southern Nazarene at 161, Rogers State at 184, Oklahoma City at 212, Northwestern Oklahoma State at 232 and Mid-America Christian at 257.

Mackola Joseph, a freshman, was the fifth Pioneer woman to cross the finish line in a time of 20:29. Two other freshmen, Kolette Dayish (20:41) and Kendra Dunn (21:45) also ran for Wayland.

Kennedy Kithuka

On the men's side, freshman Kennedy Kithuka of Kenya pulled away to beat defending NAIA champion Silas Kisorio of Oklahoma Christian at 22:45 for the men's individual title. Kisorio was second at 23:05.

Freshman Edward Taragon, also of Kenya, was third with a time of 23:37. Hildon Boen, a sophomore, was fifth at 24:12, and Jordan Valle, a sophomore from Big Spring was seventh in 24:23.

Lucius Lopez, a junior from Mesquite, also earned All-Conference honors with a 14th place finish. Another junior, Victor Lemay, was the sixth Pioneer runner (26:51).

"It was just a great performance for the guys," Whitlock said. "I'm so proud of both teams. And our future is even brighter. Out of the nine that made All-Conference today, eight will be back next year."

The Wayland men won with 30 points, followed by Oklahoma Christian at 39, OBU at 73, Lubbock Christian at 120, Southern Nazarene at 157, Rogers State at 188, Oklahoma City at 200, John Brown at 201, Northwestern Oklahoma State at 236 and Mid-America Christian at 269.