AZUSA, Calif. –- On a day that was forecasted to be cool and rainy, the sun instead shined brightly and so too did Azusa Pacific track & field, which posted numerous personal records, including several NAIA indoor automatic qualifiers, during Saturday’s all-comers “indoor” meet at Cougar Stadium.

Nearly 250 athletes competed during the 6-hour meet, including Azusa Pacific’s GSAC mates from Westmont, Fresno Pacific, Biola, Concordia and Vanguard. The Cougars enjoyed a day in the sun.

On the field, 3 more Cougars qualified for the NAIA Indoor Championships, while another pair improved their marks and 3 others posted personal records.

“It was a fine day for us in the field events,” said Cougar women’s coach Mike Barnett, who also oversees the Cougar throwers. “Considering how poor we did last week, we came back with some very fine performances this week.”

In the women’s pole vault, All-American Morgan Altizer and junior Mandy Pohja both cleared 11’ 1” to reach the “A” qualifying standard for the NAIA championships. Azusa Pacific now has 3 vaulters headed for the NAIA indoors since Sarah Stafford already met the standard last week at Northern Arizona.

In the women’s 20-pound weight throw, Ruth Wilhelm qualified for the NAIA Indoor Championships with a personal-record heave of 51’ 8¼”, more than a foot better than her previous best. Fellow junior Megan Ilertsen followed with personal-best throw of 47’ 9¾” to surpass the NAIA’s “B” standard. The 2 continued their better-than-ever day for them by both posting personal-records in the shot put. Wilhelm nearly qualified for the event automatically, putting the shot 41’ 2 ½”, less than 4 inches off the “A” standard. Ilertsen went 39’ 8”, a near 6-inch PR.

For the Cougar male throwers, All-American James Ferguson continued his steady emergence on the national level. For the third straight week, Ferguson registered PRs in both the 30-pound weight throw (season-best 53’ 5 ½) and the shot put (career-best 54 7½”). Sophomore Rob Schwandt recorded career bests in both events as well, going 41’ 7¾” in the shot and 53’ 5½” in the weight.

Meanwhile, senior Lance Soderberg won the high jump with the sixth best leap in program history, clearing 6’ 9¾” and nearly missing his first-ever 7-foot jump.

Freshman Monti Sutton produced the best triple jump by a Cougar in at least 6 years, going 45’ 7¾” to finish third in the 8-man competition. Though he did not automatically qualify for the NAIA indoors, he did eclipse the “B” standard.

On the track, former NAIA 400-meter champion Tony Ramirez broke the school record in the 600, blazing a sizzling 1:17.17 to ironically knock older brother Tim’s former standard of 1:17.60 off the record board. Ramirez followed rabbit and former teammate Matt Parrish for the first 400 meters and then sprinted the final 200 meters, pulling away from the field for the record.

Israeli native Tal Mor put together a strong showing in the sprints, automatically qualifying in the 60- (6.93) and 200-meters (21.76). A standout last year at Texas A&M-Kingsville, Mor is returning to the form that earned him NCAA Division II All-America status last year.

Senior Peter Sherman won the mile with a 4:25.46, while Chris Page, who is on the rebound from an injury-plagued 2006 season, registered his first sub-50 400 meters in nearly 2 years, clocking a 49.80. A couple hours later he turned around and anchored the Cougars’ 4x400 relay to a winning 3:19.66.

“Considering that we’re coming off a long road trip last weekend, and how hard we worked out this week, I’m really impressed with our marks today,” said Azusa Pacific men’s coach Kevin Reid. “I’m really pleased with what we achieved today.”

For the Cougar women, hurdle-specialist Lorraine Swaby showcased her speed in the 400 meters with NAIA-qualifying 58.43, best among all collegians in the meet. Swaby closed her day by anchoring the Cougar women to a 4x400 relay victory at 4:01.59 in their first effort of the season. It was also good enough to register the Cougars for the NAIA indoors.

Cross country All-American Jaime Canterbury won the women’s mile with a fine 5:13.34, just off the NAIA’s automatic qualifying measure. It was the fourth fastest mile in program history.

Azusa Pacific stays home for the week to host a “Last-Chance Qualifier” next week which will feature a pentathlon Friday (Feb. 16) at 2 p.m. followed by a full meet Saturday (Feb. 17) that starts at 10 a.m.