AZUSA, Calif. – The reigning NAIA indoor men’s and women’s champion Azusa Pacific opened its 2004 outdoor campaign with a unique mid-week tri-meet against neighboring Claremont-Mudd and touring Whitworth College of Spokane, Wash. The Cougars won both meets with the women edging Whitworth, 121-118, while the men ran away from the field, beating their nearest competitor Claremont-Mudd, 144-98.

The Cougar women won 10 of 20 events while the men captured 10 of 19.

In their first-ever outdoor meet with Azusa Pacific, freshmen Sarah Jackson and Morgan Altizer not only won their respective events, but they also placed their names among Azusa Pacific’s best ever. Jackson won the women’s 100-meter hurdles with a 15.03, the sixth fastest time in Cougar track & field history. Meanwhile Altizer took the women’s pole vault with a 10’ 11½” effort, the ninth best showing on the Cougar all-time charts.

Likewise, sophomore Barbara Sugar, a transfer from Central Arizona Community College, etched her name into the elite with a winning throw of 155’ 11” in the discus, the fourth farthest in Azusa Pacific history.

Senior Christine Krause won the 5000 with the third fastest time ever by a Cougar, a 17:44.30.

In the men’s competition, sophomore Danny Reid won both the 800 (1:58.00) and the 1500 (4:00.60) while the Cougar sprinters swept the relays with a 41.60 in the 4x100 and a 3:16.75 in the 4x400.

Azusa Pacific returns to the track on Saturday (March 27) when it visits UC San Diego for a 5-way meet that includes UC Riverside and Cal Poly Pomona. The meet begins at 10 a.m.