Feb. 25, 2008

Former Oklahoma Baptist University national champion Michael Rodgers won the USA Track and Field's Indoor 60 national championship Sunday.

Rodgers, who set the NAIA meet record last year in 6.65 seconds, won the USATF meet in 6.54 seconds in the meet shown on ESPN.

"It doesn't sound like much, but it's a huge improvement," said OBU coach Ford Mastin. "He's the fastest American this year."

Rodgers edged 2007 World 4x100 Gold Medalist LeRoy Dixon at the line by two/100ths of a second to capture the USA title.

 "This was my first U.S. finals race, so my nerves were killing me going into it. I had some great competitors in the race, but I knew that I needed to hold on to my top U.S. time and I did that. It's just so exciting to be here," Rodgers said.

Also in the finals were Monzavous Edwards, Jason Heard, Gregory Bolden, Ivory Williams, 2004 NCAA 60 meter champion Dabryan Blanton of Oklahoma, and Joshua Norman.

A transfer from Lindenwood, Rodgers led a successful career in track by becoming a two time national champion as team, national indoor champion in the 100 and 200-meter races in 2005, as well as national outdoor champion in the 200, 4x100 meter relays in 2005. He also earned All-American in the 100 meter race.

In his senior season at OBU, Rodgers led the Bison to the 2007 national outdoor title. He won the 100 meters, placed second in the 200 meters and anchored the national champion 4x100 relay team.

In his final indoor season as a Bison, Rodgers set the NAIA record in the 60 meters and also claimed the national title in the 200 meters.