SAN DIEGO, Calif. –- What better way could there be to open an outdoor track & field season than take in some sun and surf at Point Loma Nazarene’s scenic track & field complex where NAIA power Azusa Pacific shined just as brightly as the sun during the PLNU Invitational.

Just two weeks removed from claiming the NAIA indoor national championship, a well-rested set of Cougar men showed no signs of uncomfortable adjustment moving to the outdoors. In fact, senior Tal Mor, a transfer from NCAA Division II Texas A&M-Kingsville who enjoyed a fine indoor season, made it his coming-out party, seemingly reveling at being in the sun for the first time as a Cougar and blazing a pair of impressive times to not only win the 100- and 200-meters but to also easily qualify for the NAIA Outdoor Championships still some 2 months away.

Mor ripped off a 10.69 to easily run away from the field and win 100 meters. He came back later to clock a sizzling 21.42, the tenth fastest 200 in program history. With those 2 times, he wastes little time throwing his name into the hat of favorites to be crowned NAIA sprint champ later in the year. And if that wasn’t enough for the Israeli native, for good measure he anchored the Cougar 4x100 relay to a winning time of 42.07, good enough for provisional qualification for the outdoor championships.

While Mor was tearing up the Point Loma track, All-American James Ferguson was leaving divots all over the stadium turf as he continued his emergence as one of the NAIA’s premier throwers. Throughout the indoor season, Ferguson steadily improved in the shot put and that progress hasn’t been stymied in the outdoor campaign either. In his opening outdoor meet, Ferguson won the shot put at Point Loma with a personal outdoor best put of 56’ 2½” which allows him to punch his ticket for the NAIA Outdoor Championships. He won the 13-man shot put competition by a near 2 feet over his nearest competitor. Moments after his shot put victory, Ferguson came back to win the discus throw with a heave of 154’ 7”, a fine early-season mark that is just 2 feet off his all-time personal best.

Freshman Stephon Arnold had no problem with the windy affects of the outdoor high jump, clearing a personal-record 6’ 9¼” to win the competition and, like Mor and Ferguson, qualify for the outdoor championships in the process. It’s the seventh best jump in program history, only enhancing an already promising future for the collegiate rookie.

Fellow rookie Monti Sutton won the triple jump (46’ 8¼”) with a provisional qualifying performance.

In all, the Cougar men won 10 of 20 events. Other event winners included sophomore Robert Schwandt (148’ 0” in the hammer), junior Nate Nasca (15.21 in the 110 hurdles) and senior Chris Page (49.74 in the 400).

In the 2 days prior to the main meet, All-American David Pichler finished third in the decathlon with fine early-season score of 6,315 points. Sophomore Devyn Wills, who is coming off a breakthrough indoor season, tallied 5,326 points.

While Pichler and Wills were enduring the decathlon, Cougar colleague Zora Golcevska was running away with the women’s heptathlon victory, registering a whopping 4,832 points, the fifth-best point total by a Cougar female. In the process she recorded Azusa Pacific all-time top-ten mark in the 100-meter high hurdles (14.58). Senior Morgan Alitzer was sixth in the heptathlon with 4,159 points.

During Saturday’s competition, junior Ruth Wilhelm not only won both the discus and shot put competitions but she did so with impressive early-season marks. She took the discus with a near 2-foot PR throw of 151’ 8”, beating teammate Megan Ilertsen, who was second with a mark of 142’ 1”. Wilhelm also edged Ilertsen to win the shot with a heave of 41’ 10”. Ilertsen was a close second with her own PR of 40 1½”.

Sophomore Mandy Pohja was the Cougar women’s other standout of the day at Point Loma, posting an early season 11-foot vault, clearing exactly 11’ to finish second in the 11-athlete pole vault field.

Members of Azusa Pacific’s strong distance program remained home to gain another week of rest before making its outdoor season debut next week. NAIA champion Aron Rono will run the 10,000 meter Friday evening at the prestigious Stanford Invitational in Palo Alto, Calif. The rest of the Cougars turn around and return to Point Loma Nazarene next Saturday (March 31) for 5-way meet against Cal State San Marcos, UC San Diego, Concordia and meet host Point Loma.