The favorites prevailed in Shawnee Saturday in the Sooner Athletic Conference Cross Country Championships, vaulting the Wayland Baptist women to the NAIA Championships on Nov. 22 in Kenosha, Wis.

Joining the Pioneer women's team up north will be freshman Luis Pena, who qualified based on his 7th place finish on the men's side.

As expected, the Pioneer women won easily with 25 points and a team time of 1:29:46 in the five kilometers. Oklahoma Baptist was second at 60 (1:35:55), followed by Lubbock Christian at 80 (1:37:59), Oklahoma Christian at 93 (1:39:32), Southern Nazarene at 145 (1:48:36), Oklahoma City at 164 (1:54:55) and Northwestern Oklahoma State at 188 (1:56:53).

Wayland Baptist's Caroline Karunde and Purity Biwott finished well ahead of the field in 16:44 and 16:57, respectively. Karunde set a new course record, breaking the old mark of 16:48. She also established a new WBU record, bettering the mark she set just two weeks ago in Kansas.

Joinng Karunde and Biwott as All-Conference award winners were senior Erin Britton who finished fourth with a time of 18:21; freshman Selene Lopez, the seventh place finisher with a time of 18:44; Elva Pedroza who crossed the finish line in 11th place with a time of 19:00; and freshman Katie Roland who ran a personal best 19:12 to come in 12th.

Senior Kydia Echols, out for the past month with a foot injury, finished 18th in a time of 19:48.

"It was really windy early for the girls," said Coach Brian Whitlock, the conference women's Coach of the Year for the second straight year. "Caroline ran an unbelieveable race in that wind. She was all alone from the very beginning. Purity and Erin also both ran well. Selene came through and did a great job. Elva wasn't feeling well and got sick after the race was over, but she hung in their and competed, and Katie also ran well.

"Kydia was disappointed since this is her senior year, but she hasn't been able to run in over a month, so she's just not quite there yet. Hopefully in two weeks at nationals she'll be back to where she needs to be."

Oklahoma Christian won the men's meet with 47 points and a team time of 2:09:04, followed by Oklahoma Baptist with 56 points (2:11:05), Wayland Baptist at 64 (2:12:11), Southern Nazarene at 71 (2:12:40), Lubbock Christian at 112 (2:17:03) and Oklahoma City at 177 (2:34:10).

Silas Kisorio of Oklahoma Christian won the meet, covering the eight kilometers in 24:34. His teammate, Jordan Powell, was in second just two seconds off the pace.

Pena ran a 25:58 to lead the Wayland men and nail down a trip to Wisconsin. Narrowly missing out on the trip., was junior Kirby Dunn who finished eighth with a time of 26:04. The top five individuals from the non-winning school advance.

Joining Pena and Dunn on the All-Conference team from WBU was another freshman, Michael Sandoval. Sandoval completed the 8K course in a time of 26:19 to come in 13th.

Whitlock was especially proud of his men's team on Saturday. "I've felt all year that the guys have been underachieving, but today they came out and finally ran the way they are capable of running. They even exceeded what I thought they could do.

Four of our top five finishers were freshmen, so that says a lot about what this team will be like in the future."

Joseph McKenna (26:51) and Lucias Lopez (26:59) finished 17th and 19th, respectively, to round out the Pioneer top five.

Also representing Wayland on the men's side were Kail Kidd (27th - 27:40), Skylar Lovett (34th - 28:00), and John Keith (40th - 28:29).