Harding has 94 points with Oklahoma Baptist second at 54 and Arkansas Tech third with 34.
Freshman Sofie Reitbauer became the fourth consecutive Harding athlete to win the GAC heptathlon with Lauren Shell second, earning the Lady Bisons 18 points.
Harding scored 15 points in the hammer throw with senior Cara Mason winning the event for the second straight year.
The Lady Bisons continued to pile up the points in the triple jump with junior Jenna Akins and sophomore Mariah Miller placing first and second.
The largest point haul came in the javelin, where Harding had six of the scorers, including senior Anna Kay Clark, who won the event for the second straight year and shattered the GAC meet record.
The final day of competition is tomorrow with events beginning at 10 a.m.
Below is a break down of Harding’s performances in each event. Most of the running events Friday were preliminaries with the finals Saturday.
Heptathlon
Harding points: 18 … freshman Sofie Reitbauer won the event with 4,435 points, and junior Lauren Shell was second with 4,390 points … Reitbauer is the fourth consecutive Harding athlete to win the GAC heptathlon, joining Kaylin Turley (2018), Emily Shell (2019) and Darcy Sanford (2021)
100-meter hurdles (prelims)
Freshman Sofie Reitbauer ran 15.73 and freshman Sydnee Parker ran 17.00 and neither qualified for Saturday’s final
400 meters (prelims)
Senior Anne-Noelle Clerima had the top qualifying time of 56.47 seconds and was one of three Lady Bisons to qualify for the final … senior Kinga Szarzynska qualified fifth with a time of 58.20, and sophomore Alyssa Couey qualified eighth in 59.43 … Harding’s Krisman Eakin and Miah Maples were ninth and 10th respectively and just missed qualification
100 meters (prelims)
Harding did not have a competitor in the 100
800 meters (prelims)
Harding had two athletes qualify in the 800 … senior Kinga Szarzynska qualified fifth in 2:21.73 with senior Celia Stramrood sixth at 2:22.57 … Szarzynska is a two-time GAC champion in the event (2018, 2021)
400 hurdles (prelims)
Senior Anne-Noelle Clerima, Harding’s lone entry in the 400 hurdles, qualified third in 1:03.78 by winning Heat 2 … Harding has never won the 400 hurdles at the GAC meet
200 meters (prelims)
Senior Anne-Noelle Clerima qualified for her third event of the day … Clerima qualified second with a time of 25.04, just .01 seconds off her PR
3,000-meter steeplechase
Harding points: 3 … sophomore Ellie Fantauzzo turned in a PR of 11:44.26 to place sixth and earn Harding three points
Hammer Throw
Harding points: 15 … senior Cara Mason won the hammer throw for the second straight year … her throw of 49.72 meters or 163 feet, 1 inch is the best ever by a Harding athlete at the GAC meet … Mason won by seven inches … Mason’s finishes in the hammer at the GAC meet (5th, 3rd, 1st, 1st) … senior Tessa TeGrootenhuis placed fifth (four points) with a mark of 43.21 meters or 141 feet, 9 inches … she placed sixth in the even in 2021 … junior Tiffany Hildebrandt placed eighth (one point) with a PR of 42.73 meters or 140 feet, 2 inches
Triple Jump
Harding points: 19 … junior Jenna Akins won the event (10 points) with a mark of 11.99 meters or 39 feet, 4 inches on her sixth and final jump … sophomore Mariah Miller placed second (8 points) with an identical mark of 11.99 meters or 39 feet, 4 inches … Akins and Miller topped the next competitor by two centimeters … freshman Grace Carter placed eighth (1 point) with a mark of 10.80 meters or 35 feet, 5.25 inches … Akins won the event for the first time and became the fourth different Harding athlete to win the GAC triple jump, joining Caroline Embry (2016), Emily Shell (2018) and Miller (2021)
Javelin
Harding points: 33 … Harding had six of the eight scoring athletes … sophomore All-American Anna Kay Clark shattered the previous GAC meet record of 43.74 meters, winning with a toss of 46.66 meters or 153 feet, 1 inch … it was her second consecutive GAC championship … junior Cooper Monn was second (36.01m), sophomore Meghan McElroy was third (35.72m), freshman Sydney Soto was fifth (33.91m), junior Mary Vander Sewell was sixth (32.97m) and junior Lauren Shell was seventh (32.18m)
