SAN DIEGO, Calif. – For the second consecutive week, Azusa Pacific competed in San Diego, this time in a 5-way meet at Point Loma Nazarene which included NAIA rivals Cal State San Marcos, Vanguard and Concordia.

Both the Cougar men and women continue to move into midseason form with some fine marks in numerous events. While the women did some experimenting with several athletes running out of their natural strong events, the Cougar men continued to build its depth during the meet at Point Loma.

While certainly the future looks bright for the Azusa Pacific women, it could argued that the future is now. Head coach Mike Barnett’s stellar 2004 recruiting class continues to shine, reaching marks that are already placing them among the best-ever in Cougar track & field history.

Hurdlers Lorraine Swaby and Sarah Jackson recorded personal bests that etched their names onto the Cougars’ all-time top 10 in their respective events. The sophomore Swaby, who won the state JC title at West Valley CC last year, won the 400-intermediate hurdles by more than a second with a season-best 60.87, the second-fastest time in school-history, just .19 second off Kim Petway’s 13-year old record. Jackson, a freshman and former Washington state high school champ in both hurdles races, clocked a 61.99, the fifth-best time on the Cougar all-time chart. She also ran a season-best 14.77 in the 100 high hurdles to become only the sixth Cougar ever to clock a sub-15 high hurdle race.

In the hammer, an event that could produce 4 All-Americans for Azusa Pacific come May at the NAIA Outdoor Championships, sophomore Barbara Sugar posted a sub-par mark for her standards and yet was impressive with a 168’ 8”. Senior Keisha Miller, who like Sugar transferred into the Cougar program this year, was right behind with a 154’ 10”. Though she finished fourth overall, it was sophomore Kristi Young who produced the most impressive mark in the hammer, throwing the metal ball a personal-best 147’ 0”, the eighth best heave in Cougar history.

A couple of established Cougars stepped out of their comfort zones and put their names into the record book as well. All-American senior Christine Krause, running her first-ever steeplechase, set the school record with a hand-time 11:12.4. Granted it was only the third steeplechase ever run by a Cougar. Fellow All-American Niema Golphin, who has made her name in the short sprints, won her first-ever 800-meter race with a 2:12.71, the fifth-best time in Azusa Pacific history.

Sophomores Brett Bulte (10.89) and Matt Parish (11.11) both recorded season bests in the men’s 100 meters while Bultje also clocked a season PR in the 200 (21.94). Junior Rob Jarvis, a member of Azusa Pacific’s All-American 4x100-meter relay of a year ago, won the 400 meters with a season-best 48.33.

In the distances, the Cougars went 1-2-3 in the 5000 with sophomore transfer Peter Franz recording a winning time of 15:21.5. Fellow sophomores Danny Reid and Kevin Lindsey followed in short order with a 15:41.2 and a 15:47.0, respectively. The Cougars also won the 4x800 with a 7:47.75, narrowly missing by 2 seconds the automatic qualifying standard for the NAIA championships.

Sophomore hoopster Lance Soderberg made his first appearance on the track following the conclusion of the Cougar basketball season last weekend, and without much training needed Soderberg went out and won his first competition of the season, taking the high jump with a leap of 6’ 7”.

Azusa Pacific returns home next week to host the 18th Annual Meet of Champions on Saturday, April 10. The opening event is scheduled for 11 a.m.