JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. -- March in Tennessee. There’s nothing like it, at least for the Azusa Pacific men’s and women’s track & field teams.

For the ninth straight year, Azusa Pacific is spending the first weekend of March in Johnson City, Tenn., this time for the 44th Annual NAIA Indoor Track & Field Championship Meet. It’s a tradition, as they so commonly say, like none other -- Azusa Pacific enjoying a Tennessee March.

For Azusa Pacific, however, it’s not just about spending a weekend in Tennessee. No, it’s much more. For within the tradition is another tradition – winning the NAIA national championship.

The Cougar men enter this weekend’s 3-day meet as the reigning 2-time national champion. In fact, the Cougars have won 5 of the past 7 NAIA indoor men’s titles and are favored to capture the 2009 crown, so it’s no wonder they enjoy Tennessee so much.

A year ago, Azusa Pacific won the championship by the narrowest of margins in meet history, edging second-place Oklahoma Baptist by just three-quarters of a point, 64.75 to 64. The Cougars appear to have more firepower this time around, making it more difficult for Oklahoma Baptist to catch the Cougars again (the Bison, who have never won the NAIA indoor championship, have finished as the national runner-up 3 times, 1996, 2007 and 2008, and each time to Azusa Pacific).

The Cougars fortunes for this year’s championship squarely rest on the feet of 11-time NAIA national champion Aron Rono, who is seeking to become the first athlete ever to win 3 straight “Outstanding Performer” honors of the NAIA meet (Eastern New Mexico’s Mike Boit won 3 in 1971, 1973 and 1974). Rono owns the NAIA’s top times this indoor season in the 3000 meters and mile. In fact, he is looking to become only the third athlete in NAIA history to win 4 individual titles in the same event as he zeros in on yet another crown in the mile, an event he won as a freshman at Lindenwood University in 2006 and then captured again in 2007 and last year as a Cougar.

Along with running the anchor again for the Cougars’ distance medley relay, Rono will be a busy man but if his legs can hold out he could shatter the NAIA record in the mile, which currently stands at 4:03.88. His goal all season has been to run a sub-4 mile and he nearly got it with a 4:01.71 at the Husky Invitational in Seattle back on Feb. 7.

“As long as Aron is running, we have to be in the mix for a possible national title,” said 14-year Azusa Pacific men’s head coach Kevin Reid. “Between the 3 events he’s running, he could tally as much as 30 points for us and single-handedly beat all but 5 or 6 teams at the meet.”

So the rest of the Cougars’ scoring mark will be the responsibility of All-Americans Staphon Arnold, Anthony Logan, Casey Stevick, Monti Sutton and newcomers Jordan Savidge, Montrail Brooks, Garrett Zambrows, Cedrique Smith and Abednego Mugat.

Arnold, a 2-time All-American in the high jump, has enjoyed his best track & field experiences in Johnson City at the NAIA indoor meet. As he climbs closer to a 7-foot leap, Arnold is among the favorites win the event.

Savidge is the NAIA’s runaway leader in the pole vault with a season-best effort of 16’ 8¾” nearly 3 inches better than the nearest competitor in the NAIA field.

Meanwhile, Logan, with his season-best effort of 1:20.74, is eyeing a possible victory in the 600 meters.

“If we get top-line efforts from Staphon, Jordan and Anthony, meaning a top-3 finishes, and then great support performances from the other guys, I think we’ll be difficult to beat,” said Reid.

Azusa Pacific also figures to score significant points in the 4x400 and distance medley relays, likely pushing its team point total to somewhere in the 70s, perhaps even the 80s.

A year ago, the Cougar women had their collective hearts broken during the final event of the championship meet, the 4x400-meter relay, when Wayland Baptist University finished second to score 8 points and rally to beat Azusa Pacific, 71-70, for its record sixth NAIA crown.

Azusa Pacific returns to Johnson City, still stinging from that setback and knowing that catching Wayland Baptist and its strong pack of sprinters will be even more difficult this year.

Nonetheless, the Cougars are confident that a strong showing may apply pressure to the WBU squad and perhaps force some breakdowns under stress that would allow Azusa Pacific to steal the title.

“It’s going to be a dogfight for us,” said 10-year Azusa Pacific women’s head coach Mike Barnett. “We’ll have to be at our best and grind this one out and maybe we can be at the hunt late Saturday.”

NAIA pentathlon champion Zora Golcevska headlines the 14 Cougar women in Johnson City. The former Santa Monica City College standout will be challenged to repeat her title in the pentathlon but then also score in the long jump, high jump and 60-meter hurdles. If she can register points in all 4 events she’ll be among the leading candidates for the “Outstanding Performer” award of the meet.

Azusa Pacific features the best 1-2 tandem in distance running in the NAIA. Senior Jaime Canterbury, the 2007 NAIA cross country champion and a 9-time track & field All-American, and sophomore Jacky Kipwambok, a 2-time NAIA cross country runner-up and a 4-time track & field All-American, will go head-to-head with Wayland’s best in the mile and 3000 meters. Canterbury and Kipwambok are both entered in the mile, while Canterbury is seeking to defend her NAIA title in the 3000. Kipwambok is the clear favorite to win the 5000 with freshman Lauren Jimison teaming with her for additional point support.

Junior Tiffeny Parker could be the wild card in the Cougars’ championship pursuit. The All-American is expected to score big points in the pentathlon and hopefully offer additional significant points in the triple jump and 60-meter hurdles.

Sophomore Mandy Ross will be a key figure with her efforts in the 400 meters and as the anchor of the Cougar 4x400-meter relay with enters the meet with the third-best time this year.

The NAIA championship meet opens Thursday (March 5) with the men’s heptathlon and women’s pentathlon. Full meet competition begins Friday with the meet concluding with championship Saturday.

Click here for detailed information, including schedule and live results, for the women’s championship meet, and here for similar information on the men’s championship.