Mekayla Gibson, William Woods University's women's 5k and 6k record holder - set both this season - will defend her American Midwest Conference individual title when the Owls head to Hannibal to start their postseason run with the AMC Championships, hosted by Hannibal-LaGrange University at 11:30 a.m. Friday.
Running in the 6k race for the Owls are
Myra Baker (will be first 6k time),
Emma Clifford (PR: 27:21.4),
Hailey Gerard (PR: 24:14.4), Gibson (PR: 21:59.3),
Sydney Grubb (PR: 26:05.2),
Anna Hart (PR:28:20.8),
Kathryn Hirtz (will be first 6k time),
Olivia Holman (PR: 31:20.5),
Sarah Kirby (PR: 24:45.5),
Carlee Moss (PR: 27:51.6),
Crystal Ruden (PR: 23:01.2),
Amy Schreck (PR: 26:31.3),
Christian Steuck (PR: 25:36.1) and
Kyah Weirich (PR: 27:08.3).
In WWU's final AMC Championships before joining the Heart of America Athletic Conference next school year, the Owls seek their second AMC team championship in three years - seventh overall and eighth in program history (won the Association of Independent Institutions Championships in the COVID-delayed 2020 season). In
Dan Schwab's first six years at the helm, The Woods' best team performance was in 2022, when it won the AMC title with 26 points; the Owls' greatest-ever team showing was a first-place finish with 15 points in 2006 under the program's first coach Jamie Moreno.
NAIA All-American Gibson, winner of three out of this season's eight AMC Women's Cross Country Runner of the Week awards, led William Woods in all four of its regular season meets this year, finishing fourth at the season-opening 5k Saint Mary Sunset Showdown, fifth at the 5k Larry Young Invitational, third at the 5k Brian T. Simpson Invite with a school record 18:04.8 and sixth at the 6k Blazing Tiger NAIA Classic with her second straight school record time, 21:59.3.
Another All-AMC finisher for the Owls last year competing Friday is
Crystal Ruden, who recorded back-to-back personal record times in WWU's two most recent meets: 23:01.2 at the Blazing Tiger NAIA Classic Oct. 26 and 18:59.5 at the Brian T. Simpson Invite Oct. 12.
Although she doesn't have a college accolade to her name like Gibson and Ruden,
Sarah Kirby has a good chance at doing just that, being a contender for AMC Newcomer of the Year. As Gibson and Ruden did, Kirby PR'd in her last race, clocking in at 24:45.5 in the Blazing Tiger Classic. It was the second 6k she competed in for WWU, and her time was 7:22.5 better than her first, which occurred a season ago.
Cottey College's Madalenn Fee headlines the list of competitors the Owls are running against. Fee is tied with Gibson for the most AMC Women's Cross Country Runner of the Week honors this season with three. While Gibson does have a better 6k PR than Fee's - 22:06.2 - by 6.9 seconds, the Comets' No. 1 runner's 5k PR of 17:48.1 is 16.7 seconds ahead of the Owls' No. 1.
Rounding out the trio of opponents that made All-AMC last season are a pair of Missouri Baptist University runners, Mia Duncan and Adrienne Rockette. Duncan won the Week 6 (Oct. 7) AMC Women's Cross Country Runner of the Week and has a 6k PR of 22:25.9, and Rockette placed fourth at last year's AMC Championships and owns a 6k PR of 22:56.4.
To keep up with how William Woods does as the race happens, live results can be accessed
here.
