Missouri Baptist Women, WWU's Gibson Take Home AMC Cross Country Conference Titles
November 3, 2023
Nevada, Mo. - (Championship Page | Final Results) For the third-time in program history, the Missouri Baptist University Spartans are the American Midwest Conference (AMC) Women's Cross Country Champions.
In the fourth closest finish in Championship history, the Spartans edged runner-up William Woods University by four points (32-36).
Missouri Baptist used top-10 finishes from Mia Reed (2nd-place), Adrienne Rockette (4th), Gracie Kopala (7th) and Haley Hernandez (8th) to secure the title.
Mekayla Gibson (William Woods) won the individual title, finishing in a time of 22:01.54.
Avery Morris of Cottey took home AMC Women's Cross Country Freshman of the Year honors after a 12th-place finish in a time of 24:49.57. Morris is the first runner from Cottey to win this award.
Newcomer of the Year honors went to Hailey Gerard of William Woods after placing 17th in a time of 25:14.43. This is the fourth time that an Owl has won Newcomer of the Year.
The Missouri Baptist coaching staff of head coach David Lee, associate head coach Jerry McQueen and assistant coach Trey Peugeot was named AMC Women's Cross Country Coaching Staff of the Year for the first time since the award changed names in 2018.
The top-10 individual finishers earned AMC All-Conference status. Joining the aforementioned Spartan quartet and Gibson, Cottey's Madalenn Fee (5th) and Kiana Garcia (10th), and William Woods' Crystal Ruden (6th) and Tara Lowe (9th) finished in the top-10.
Additionally, the AMC has announced the members of the AMC Women's Cross Country Academic All-Conference and Champions of Character Teams.
The AMC Champions of Character Team is one representative from each of the participating school who best exemplifies the Five Core Values of the NAIA Champions of Character program (respect, responsibility, integrity, sportsmanship and servant leadership).
To be eligible for the Academic All-Conference Team, student-athletes must be in their second semester at their AMC institution, have at least a 3.0 GPA and finish the year on the team. Fall sport freshman are not eligible for the award in their first season.
2023 AMC Women's Cross Country Champions of Character Team:
2023 AMC Women's Cross Country Academic All-AMC
In the fourth closest finish in Championship history, the Spartans edged runner-up William Woods University by four points (32-36).
Missouri Baptist used top-10 finishes from Mia Reed (2nd-place), Adrienne Rockette (4th), Gracie Kopala (7th) and Haley Hernandez (8th) to secure the title.
Mekayla Gibson (William Woods) won the individual title, finishing in a time of 22:01.54.
Avery Morris of Cottey took home AMC Women's Cross Country Freshman of the Year honors after a 12th-place finish in a time of 24:49.57. Morris is the first runner from Cottey to win this award.
Newcomer of the Year honors went to Hailey Gerard of William Woods after placing 17th in a time of 25:14.43. This is the fourth time that an Owl has won Newcomer of the Year.
The Missouri Baptist coaching staff of head coach David Lee, associate head coach Jerry McQueen and assistant coach Trey Peugeot was named AMC Women's Cross Country Coaching Staff of the Year for the first time since the award changed names in 2018.
The top-10 individual finishers earned AMC All-Conference status. Joining the aforementioned Spartan quartet and Gibson, Cottey's Madalenn Fee (5th) and Kiana Garcia (10th), and William Woods' Crystal Ruden (6th) and Tara Lowe (9th) finished in the top-10.
Additionally, the AMC has announced the members of the AMC Women's Cross Country Academic All-Conference and Champions of Character Teams.
The AMC Champions of Character Team is one representative from each of the participating school who best exemplifies the Five Core Values of the NAIA Champions of Character program (respect, responsibility, integrity, sportsmanship and servant leadership).
To be eligible for the Academic All-Conference Team, student-athletes must be in their second semester at their AMC institution, have at least a 3.0 GPA and finish the year on the team. Fall sport freshman are not eligible for the award in their first season.
2023 AMC Women's Cross Country Champions of Character Team:
2023 AMC Women's Cross Country Academic All-AMC
| School | Name |
| COT | Mikaela Fabey |
| COT | Taylor Rechenmacher |
| WBU | Mikey Larson |
| WWU | Emma Clifford |
| WWU | Mekayla Gibson |
| WWU | Ellie Dimond |
| WWU | Mary Grover |
| HLG | Brooklyn Carvajal |
| HLG | Breanne Haines |
| COT | Hannah Hayduk |
| COT | Kyndal Soukup |
| COT | Madalenn Fee |
| CC | Baylie Combs |
| WWU | Myra Baker |
| WWU | Hailey Gerard |
| WWU | Crystal Ruden |
| WWU | Kyah Weirich |
| UHSP | Sophie Eastham |
| UHSP | Ajia Vigil |
| UHSP | Abbey Wallace |
| COT | Kiana Garcia |
| WBU | Kira Rogers |
| MBU | Lily Harris |
| MBU | Haley Hernandez |
| MBU | Gracie Kopala |
| MBU | Mattie Noyes |
| MBU | Mia Reed |
| UHSP | Abby Baxter |
| UHSP | Charlotte Dunajcik |
| UHSP | Lillian Thomas |
| COT | Mikaela Fabey |
| COT | Taylor Rechenmacher |
| WBU | Mikey Larson |