May 25, 2006

FRESNO, Calif. - It took less than an hour into a three-day meet for the records to start falling at the NAIA Outdoor Track & Field National Championships, hosted by Fresno Pacific University.

Azusa Pacific University (Calif.) senior Vivian Chukwuemeka shattered the NAIA record in the hammer throw, heaving the nine-pound ball 196' 10" to win the event and collect an association record 14th NAIA individual title, her eighth on the outdoor circuit.  Chukwuemkea not only broke the previous standard by nearly 15 feet but she also led a parade of Cougars as Azusa Pacific snagged the first-day lead toward the team title with 27 points, all in the hammer.

Lindenwood (Mo.) is second with 14 points followed by Missouri Baptist with 12 and 3 other teams with 10 points each. 

Cougar seniors swept the top three finishes in the hammer with defending champion Barbara Sugar finishing second to Chukwuemeka at 176' 9" followed by Kristi Young, who was third with a personal-best effort of 172' 0".  Sophomore Ruth Wilhelm rounded out the Cougar contingent by finishing sixth with another personal-best throw of 160' 5".

"The record wasn't a goal," said Chukwuemeka, who initially broke the record on her second throw and then broke it again on her fourth throw.  "It wasn't even on my mind.  I just wanted to win because I've never won this event before.  Once I got the record, I thought I could do it again and again. I really pushed myself on the last 2 throws because I wanted to go over 200 feet and maybe that's why I fouled on both of them."

Freshman Nadina Marsh of Missouri Baptist University is the first-day leader in the hepathlon.  Marsh won three of four events to tally 3,299 points and assume a 156-point advantage over Doane's Katie Kosmos, who came into the meet with NAIA-leading mark of 5,076 points this season.

Marsh clocked a personal-best 13.94 in the 100-meter high hurdles to take an early lead that she would not relinquish the rest of the day.  She followed with another personal-best of 5' 6 ½" in the high jump and then won the shot put with a have of 40' 2 ¼".

Lauren Sexton of Concordia University (Ore.) may only be a freshman but she performed like a veteran, winning the women's javelin in her first-ever NAIA champvionship event with a stadium-record throw of 157' 3".  She becomes the first-ever Concordia athlete, male or female, to garner an NAIA individual title.

"Really? I didn't know that," said Sexton when informed about the uniqueness of her victory.  "That's pretty cool, pretty awesome. I was nervous but then again I was also calm, knowing that I was first coming into the meet."

Ruky Abdulai of Simon Fraser University (B.C.) was successful in the first leg of a never-before-done double victory, taking the long jump in rather convincing fashion with a windy though school-record jump of 22' 3 ½" a near 2-foot personal-record for the Ghana native, who now turns her focus on winning Saturday's high jump competition.

"Whether it's the long jump or the high jump, it's all about technique," said Abdulai.  "I combine everything together between the 2 events and use it to my advantage.  I came here today thinking I would jump 6.55 (21' 6" empirical), and when I got it on the second jump, I was really surprised.  I just went for the record after that."

Abdulai beat Anna Kay Campbell of Lindenwood University (Mo.), who finished second with a jump of 20' 8 ½".  At the indoor championships in March, Campbell edged Abdulai by an inch to win the NAIA crown, but Abdulai made sure there would be no repeat performance this time.

"It was so competitive today," said Abdulai.  "I was thinking a lot about her (Campbell) coming into the meet and as soon as I went 6.55 I knew I was going to win this time." 

Missouri Baptist's Betty Rotich closed out the first day of events by winning the 10,000 meters with a stadium record time of 35:01.80.  Goshen's Petrana Petkova was second at 36:06.19.

First-day preliminaries and finals can be viewed through Live results that are available on the Internet.