May 27, 2006

FRESNO, Calif. -  The once and future kings are primed for an intense run to the title.

Two-time defending national champion Dickinson State University (N.D.) enjoyed a near-perfect day to take the lead at the 55^th Annual NAIA Outdoor Track & Field Championships.  The Blue Hawks  have tallied 57 points after two days of competition in the three-day meet hosted by Fresno Pacific University.  Azusa Pacific University (Calif.), the winningest program in NAIA history with 13 national championships, is a close second, trailing DSU by just 10 points after tallying 44 of its current 49-point total during Friday's competition.

The national championship is still up for grabs with 12 finals set for Saturday, including four in which the two schools go head-to-head - the 200 and 400 meters along with the 4x100-meter and 4x400-meter relays.

Azusa Pacific, a traditional power in the decathlon, used three athletes to tally 18 points in the ten-eventer, and then won a pair of other events to rack up quick counters.  Junior Matt Sparks won the 110-meter hurdles with a career-best time of 14.00.  Later in the day, All-Americans Kevin Lindsey, Danny Reid, Caleb Lynch and Tim Ramirez paced Azusa Pacific to its fourth-straight win in the 4x800-meter relay, clocking a 7:32.20 to become the first school ever to win four consecutive 4x800 crowns.  Lindsey, a senior, was a member of all four championship runs.

Trevor Barry of Dickinson State parlayed a surprisingly tight competition with teammate Adrian Griffith to not only successfully defend his title in the long jump but to do it with the best mark at an NAIA meet in ten years.  With the two jumpers tied going into the final attempt, Barry soared 25' 8" to edge Griffith and become the first repeat winner in the long jump since 1996.  Griffith finished second with a one-foot personal record of 24' 4 ¾".

"Good competitors make you better," said Barry.  "I'm glad Adrian stepped up.  He gave me a push.  It's nice to win this twice because nothing is a given in the long jump."

Blue Hawk senior Ross Walker closed out his collegiate career in grand fashion, upsetting defending champion Scott Myers of Southern Oregon University to win the men's shot put and give Dickinson State some unexpected bonus points.  Walker recorded a two-foot personal record by going 58' 7 ¼" for his victory, despite not have a fair throw among his three final attempts.

"We had a great day," said Dickinson State head coach Pete Stanton.  "We're definitely ahead of where we projected to be at this point.  Ross' victory in the shot put and Adrian's second-place in the long jump were big performances.  Really, Adrian just had an unbelievable day."

Moments after his effort in the long jump, Griffith took the track and ripped off a personal-record 10.29 to finish third in the 100 meters.  Yhann Plummer of Southern-Orleans won the race with a 10.20 to clip Lindenwood University's (Mo.) Michael Rodger and his 10.21.  With 3 sprinters under 10.3, it was fastest 100 meters at the NAIAs in 11 years.

Sergiy Oliynyk of Wayland Baptist University (Texas) won the decathlon with 7,198 points..  Azusa Pacific's Brian Bernard was second at 6,854 while teammate Akoni Clubb scored a personal-best 6,847 to finish third.

In other finals of the day, former World Junior champion Mike Mason of University of British Columbia broke the NAIA record in the high jump with a leap of 7' 3¼", besting by a quarter inch Lee Pool of Dallas Baptist University (Texas) and his 1995 effort. Mason edged Barry, who nearly collected a rare long jump-high jump double, finishing second with a school-record jump of 7' 2 ½". Patrick Stroupe of Central Methodist won the 5000-meter walk with a 23:16.38.