FRESNO, Calif. -- For the fourth straight year Azusa Pacific pulled a double play on its conference rivals and swept the Golden State Athletic Conference men’s and women’s track & field championships, held at Cockerham Field.

The Cougar women tallied 234 points to beat Point Loma Nazarene by 44 points, while the men registered 251 points to knock off upstart and meet host Fresno Pacific, which finished its best showing at the conference championship meet with 187 points.

The Cougar women won 16 of the 22 events staged, setting 4 GSAC records along the way. Azusa Pacific won all 3 sprints, all 3 relays and all 4 throwing events. NAIA champion Vivian Chukwuemeka paced the Cougar onslaught by successfully defending her conference titles in the shot (54’ 2 ½”), discus (158’ 6”) and hammer (meet record 186’ 2”).

In the sprints, All-American Niema Golpin had a hand in 48 points. Individually, she won the 200 (24.55) and then set a GSAC record in the 400 (53.55, the third fastest quartermile in Azusa Pacific history). Earlier in the meet, she set a Cockerham Field record in the 100, blazing a 12.10 to win her semifinal with the second fastest time in Cougar history. Fourteen minutes after running her PR in the 400, she came back for her final in the 100. However, teammate Lorraine Swaby stunned everyone, including herself, when she clocked a 12.19 (fourth best in Cougar history) to beat Golphin (12.53) for the conference title. That was the first of 2 victories for the sophomore Swaby, who also captured her specialty, the 400 hurdles (1:01.63).

The Cougars made it a sweep in the hurdles when freshman Sarah Jackson won the 100 hurdles (14.85). Jackson also finished second to Swaby in the 400 hurdles (1:04.46).

Golphin, Swaby and Jackson then teamed with All-American Janessa Goodfellow to begin Azusa Pacific’s sprint to the relay titles, first taking the 4x100 with a 48.14. Swaby, Goodfellow and Golphin then partnered with Tamara Jones to win the 4x400 (3:54.07). For Golphin, it was her fifth event of the day.

“We used our sprinters to the max today,” said Azusa Pacific women’s coach Mike Barnett, “and we may repeat a similar request of them at nationals. We’re tired at the moment, but everyone is running well right now.”

NAIA champion Brianna Carstensen used a lifetime best of 2:12.02 (fourth best ever in Cougar history) to win the 800 meters and anchored the Cougars’ 4x800 (9:30.4) to the conference crown. Fellow distance All-American Christine Krause pulled off a most unusual double victory by taking the steeplechase (GSAC and Azusa Pacific record 11:07.2) on Friday before winning the 5000 (stadium record 18:14.79) on Saturday.

Other Cougars winners included sophomore Renee Eckley in the javelin (143’ 1”, third best throw in Azusa Pacific history) and freshman Morgan Altizer in the pole vault (11’ 6”, fourth best vault in Cougar history).

“I wasn’t as surprised by the number of event victories as I was by our depth in the events,” said Barnett. “Going into the meet, I figured we’d win several events but I was pleased with the number of second, third and fourth-place finishes that we attained.”

The Cougar men won 10 events on their way to their sixth straight GSAC championship, and junior Mike Mitchell had a hand in 4 of the victories. Mitchell dominated the short sprints by winning the 100 (10.29) and 200 (21.08) with GSAC-record performances. He also used his dominant speed to easily win the long jump (24’ 8 ½”) by more than 2 feet. He joined forces with Rob Jarvis, Gabe Cabrerra and Brett Bultje to anchor the Cougars’ 4x100 to a GSAC-winning and stadium-record 40.94.

Freshman Tony Ramirez continued his sparkling rookie season by winning the 400 meters (47.87). Then Azusa Pacific showed off its impressive quarter-mile depth by taking the next 3 places after Ramirez. Sophomore Matt Parish (48.14), junior Chris Page (48.52) and senior Cabrera (48.90) followed in succession.

It’s no wonder with such a strong contingent that Azusa Pacific won the 4x400 (3:18.50) by nearly 3 seconds. However, only Parish and Page ran legs on the championship realy. While Shaw anchored the quartet, it was GSAC high jump champion Lance Soderberg, a 6-foot-9 forward from the Cougar basketball team, who surprisingly opened the eventual conference-winning quartet.

Like Mitchell, his former Mt. SAC teammate, junior Brandon Shaw was a multiple GSAC winner, capturing the 800 (1:53.18) and the 1500 (3:58.04).

“We had a strong and steady performance,” said Azusa Pacific men’s track & field coach Kevin Reid. “Our sprint depth was really nice to see, and to come back with another fine showing after 2 straight weeks of good showings at the Meet of Champions and Mt. SAC Relays is very encouraging to this team as a whole.”