CROSS COUNTRY Harding sweeps GAC titles
The Harding men’s and women’s cross country teams each won Great American Conference titles at the conference championship meet on Saturday that was hosted by Arkansas Tech in Russellville.
The Harding men’s team finished with five runners in the top nine to finish with 21 points, 15 points better than second-place East Central (Okla.) and Southern Arkansas finished third with 73. It was Harding’s 40th conference title.
Andrew Evans was the individual winner, finishing in 24 minutes, 56.9 seconds, while Lajos Farkas (25:23.4) finished third, Taylor Lively (25:15.7) finished fourth and Matthew Cumpian (25:20.5) was fifth.
The Lady Bisons finished with three runners in the top four to claim their second GAC title in three years, and the 20th conference championship in program history.
Harding finished with 21 points, 28 ahead of second-place Southern Arkansas.
Ewa Zaborowska claimed the individual conference title for the second consecutive season in 17:45.8, while Dallis Bailey finished second at 18:23.1 and Amber Webb was fourth at 18:26.2.
VOLLEYBALL UALR falls on road
Texas-Arlington’s Taylor Gross had 16 kills to lead it to a 25-21, 23-25, 25-15, 25-17 road victory over UALR at the Jack Stephens Center in Little Rock.
The UALR loss puts the teams in a tie for second place in the Sun Belt Conference standings.
Edina Begic led UALR with 19 kills and Kelsey Leech had a career-best 22 digs for the Trojans (16-7, 8-3).
Stacey Koch added 11 kills for Texas-Arlington (15-9, 8-3).
UCA improves to 11-0 in Southland
Scout Brooks had 13 kills and Heather Schnars added 12 to help Central Arkansas outlast Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in a 25-20, 25-22, 20-25, 26-24 victory on Saturday in Conway.
Fulani Petties had 11 kills, Marissa Collins had 49 assists and 19 digs andShelbee Berringer had 19 digs for the Sugar Bears (19-3, 11-0 Southland Conference), who have won 12 consecutive matches.
Harding sets school record
Mollie Arnold had 22 kills to help Harding beat Southwestern Oklahoma State 23-25, 25-21, 25-18, 25-15 on Saturday in Weatherford, Okla., the Lady Bisons’ 26th consecutive conference victory to break a record for the longest conference winning streak.
Marindia Turner added 10 kills for the Lady Bisons (20-7, 9-0 Great American Conference), while Taryn Eubank had 44 assists and Lisa Copeland had 17 digs.
UAM falls at home
Tori Bozzo had 11 kills, but Arkansas-Monticello fell to Southern Nazarene 25-22, 25-21, 16-25, 25-20 on Saturday at Steelman Fieldhouse in Monticello.
Southern Nazarene had a .260 hitting percentage to Arkansas-Monticello’s .159. Amy Bazemore had 30 assists for the Cotton Blossoms (12-14, 2-8 Great American Conference).
SOCCER Second half dooms Harding
The Harding men’s soccer team allowed all four goals in the second half of a 4-1 loss to NCAA Division II No. 17 Fort Hays State on Saturday in Hays, Kan.
Fort Hays State’s Carlos Linares scored in the 54th minute to take a 1-0 lead, before Cole Walker scored 63 seconds later to tie the match at 1-1. But Fort Hays State scored in the 62nd, 64th and 82nd minute to seal the match. Harding (5-6-3, 3-5 Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association) was outshot 22-10.
TENNIS Razorbacks win three in Florida
Jovan Parlic fell in the semifinals of the FGCU Invitational on Saturday, but Santiago Munoz won a singles match and two Arkansas doubles teams won a match in Fort Myers, Fla.
Parlic lost to FGCU’s Jordi Vives 7-6 (2), 6-2 in the semifinals, while Munoz beat Boston College’s Kyle Childree 6-2, 6-3 in a floating match, and Parlic and Pete Thomason beat Philip Nelson and Aiden McNulty 8-3 in a doubles match. Hall Fess and Munoz beat Florida Atlantic’s Will Neuner and Richard Meade 8-4.
Sports, Pages 28 on 10/27/2013