Established 2011 | Association NCAA | |
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The Great American Conference sponsors championship events for 12 of its 13 sports. The football champion is the team with the best conference record.
Contents
- Mens Cross Country
- Championships
- Womens Cross Country
- Football
- Season
- Womens Soccer
- Tournament
- Volleyball
- Mens Basketball
- Womens Basketball
- Baseball
- Mens Golf
- Womens Golf
- Softball
- Mens Tennis
- Womens Tennis
- References
The 2011–12 season was the first year of the conference. Arkansas Tech led the way with four championships (3 team, 1 individual). East Central and Harding each had three. As a new conference it did not receive automatic qualifying to NCAA championships; however, several teams and individuals were selected to postseason championships.
East Central, Harding, and Southern Arkansas participated in the Men's Cross Country regional meet with ECU placing 2nd (3 top 10 runners) to advance to the national meet where ECU earned an 11th-place finish. Arkansas Tech, East Central, Harding, and Southern Arkansas participated in the Women's Cross Country regional meet with HU placing 7th (1 top 10 runner). Arkansas Tech's volleyball team fell in the regional first round while the men's basketball team advanced to the regional finals, and Ouachita Baptist's men's tennis team advanced to the national quarterfinals. Rebecka Surteval (ATU) finished 16th at the Women's Golf super regional. Jack Garrett (ATU) finished 12th and Matt Jennings (HSU) finished 54th at the Men's Golf super regional. Southern Arkansas ended the Baseball regional with a 1-2 record, winning its first game.
Men's Cross Country
East Central placed the top three individual finishes and four of the top six to capture the inaugural Great American Conference Men's Cross Country Championship.
ECU's Ezekiel Kissorio, Armando Saldivar, and Daniel Kiptoo finished first, second, and third, respectively. All seven of ECU's designated runners finished in the top 10. ECU finished with a total of 17 points.
Championships
Saturday, October 22
Host: Harding University (Searcy, AR)
Women's Cross Country
Harding placed all seven of its runners in the top 20 to win the inaugural Great American Conference Women's Cross Country Championship.
Four of Harding's seven runners finished in top 10 in the 5-kilometer race, highlighted by a first-place finish from Gladys Kimtai and a second-place finish from Eva Zaborowska. Harding finished with a total of 27 points.
Championships
Saturday, October 22
Host: Harding University (Searcy, AR)
Football
Ouachita Baptist clinched the inaugural Great American Conference Championship by defeating Southeastern Oklahoma State with a final score of 21-18. OBU (7-2, 6-0 GAC) finished the season at 7-3, and 6-1 in Great American Conference play. The conference championship marks the first since 1982.
Season
The Arkansas schools were not able to play a complete conference schedule due to the exit agreement with the Gulf South Conference.
Women's Soccer
After scoreless regulation and overtime periods, East Central defeated Ouachita Baptist 3-1 in penalty kicks to capture the inaugural Great American Conference Women's Soccer Championship.
ECU, the conference's regular season champ as well, recorded successful penalty kicks from Laura McNab, Rachel Hudgins and Carla Rodriguez to capture the victory. Morgan Pitchford made the first penalty kick for OBU, but her team's next three shootout participants were unsuccessful in their attempts, setting up Rodriguez' game-winner.
Tournament
Friday-Sunday, November 4–6
Host: East Central University (Ada, OK)
Volleyball
It is only fitting the inaugural Great American Conference Volleyball Tournament Championship was decided in five sets. Arkansas Tech defeated Harding 3-2 to capture the tournament title to go along with the program's regular season championship.
It was ATU's third five set win over Harding this season. Final game scores were 20-25, 25-17, 25-16, 25-27, and 15-11.
Tournament
Friday-Saturday, November 11–12
Host: Arkansas Tech University (Russellville, AR)
Men's Basketball
Top seeded and nationally ranked No. 21 Arkansas Tech captured the inaugural Great American Conference Men's Basketball Championship by defeating No. 7 seed Southwestern Oklahoma State by a final score of 69-58.
With the win over SWOSU, ATU has now been the victor of three of its past four conference championship tournaments. Arkansas Tech was Gulf South Conference champions in 2009 and 2010.
Tournament
Thursday-Sunday, March 1–4
Host: Bartlesville Sports Commission (Bartlesville, OK)
Women's Basketball
No. 2 seed Southwestern Oklahoma State captured the inaugural Great American Conference Women's Basketball Tournament championship with a 69-58 win over No. 4 seed Harding.
With the win over Harding, SWOSU won its first post-season tournament championship since 1998 and finished the season on a seven-game winning streak.
Tournament
Thursday-Sunday, March 1–4
Host: Bartlesville Sports Commission (Bartlesville, OK)
Baseball
Southern Arkansas' Jason Dahl sent a towering fly ball over the right-center field fence in the bottom of the 11th inning to give his team the title with a 4-3 victory over Ouachita Baptist in the finals of the inaugural Great American Conference Championship Tournament. Dahl was also responsible for forcing the game into extra innings after hitting an RBI double down the right field line in the bottom of the ninth.
Ouachita Baptist defeated Southern Arkansas by the same score in the first game of the day. SAU rallied in the ninth inning to score one run on an RBI groundout from Rafael Thomas, but Southern Arkansas left two runners on base when Ryan Dardenne grounded out to the pitcher to force the deciding second game.
Tournament
Friday-Monday, May 4–7
Host: David Allen Memorial Ballpark (Enid, OK)
Men's Golf
Southwestern Oklahoma State claimed the inaugural Great American Conference Men's Golf Championship after ending the final round five strokes ahead of eventual runner-up Arkansas Tech.
SWOSU turned in its highest team total of the three round tournament in the final round with a 306 to give the team a final score of 898. Arkansas Tech shot a 300 as a team in the final round to increase its final total to 903. ATU bettered its team score by one stroke in each round of the event, but it was not enough to overcome SWOSU's first and second round scores of 297 and 295.
The final round needed a sudden-victory playoff to decide the individual champion. HSU's Matt Jennings won the first playoff hole over ATU's Jack Garrett by two strokes to take first place. Garrett shot a 74 in the final 18 holes, while Jennings turned in a 77 to give the pair a regulation three round total of 219 each.
Jennings becomes HSU's first individual conference champion in Men's Golf since the institution joined the NCAA Division II ranks in 1994.
Championships
Sunday-Tuesday, April 15–17
Host: Hot Springs Country Club (Hot Springs, AR)
Women's Golf
Harding held off a late push from eventual runner-up Arkansas Tech to capture the inaugural Great American Conference Women's Golf Championship by a final margin of 11 strokes.
Harding shot a 320 in the final round to give the team a three round total of 956. Arkansas Tech finished second with a three round total of 967 after posting the best team score of the event for a single round with a 315 in the final 18 holes.
ATU's final round was highlighted by individual champion Rebecka Surtevall, who shot a 75 to give her a three-day total of 232, one stroke ahead of individual runner-up Becca Godman from Harding, who entered the final 18 holes with a one stroke advantage. Surtevall's third round score of 75 was the top individual single round score of the event.
Championships
Sunday-Tuesday, April 15–17
Host: Hot Springs Country Club (Hot Springs, AR)
Softball
No. 1 seed Arkansas-Monticello defeated No. 2 seed Southeastern Oklahoma State 9-2 to secure the inaugural Great American Conference Softball Championship Tournament title.
It is UAM's first overall conference tournament championship in its 17-year history.
Tournament
Thursday-Saturday, April 26–28
Host: Bentonville Visitors and Convention Bureau (Bentonville, AR)
Men's Tennis
No. 1 seed and host Ouachita Baptist defeated No. 2 seed East Central by a final score of 5-1 on Saturday to capture the inaugural Great American Conference Men's Tennis Championship Tournament title.
After going 2-1 in doubles play, OBU's Helge Knuth, Marko Boskovic and Ramon Abaitua all recorded singles victories to give OBU the conference's tournament championship. The Tigers also captured the league's inaugural regular season title going 3-0.
Tournament
Friday-Saturday, April 20–22
Host: Ouachita Baptist University (Arkadelphia, AR)
Women's Tennis
No. 1 seed Arkansas Tech followed its regular season championship by winning the inaugural Great American Conference Women's Tennis Championship Tournament with a 5-0 win over No. 3 seed East Central.
The Golden Suns' 3-0 performance in doubles play was highlighted by an 8-0 win for Maria Aleman and Rachel Stevens over ECU's Bernardita Muscillo and Kristen Clubb. In singles play, ATU's Nina Greenway picked up a 6-1, 6-0 victory over Kaitlin Threat in the sixth position, while Rachel Stevens picked up a default win over Auriele Rodriguez in the second set due to injury.
Tournament
Friday-Saturday, April 20–22
Host: Ouachita Baptist University (Arkadelphia, AR)