LOUISVILLE, Ky. –- Azusa Pacific pulled a pen from the pocket and went to work, rewriting relay records at the NAIA Outdoor Track & Field Championships.

Both the Cougar men’s and women’s 4x800-meter relays set new standards Friday’s afternoon while the Cougar women moved closer to the team title.

Led by Danny Reid and paced by Kevin Lindsey, Peter Franz and anchor Brandon Shaw, the Cougar men ran a 7:26.13 to win the 4x800 and break the NAIA national record by more than 3 seconds. The Cougars led predominantly throughout the relay but the victory and the record appeared to be in peril when Oklahoma Baptist Travis Pearman overtook Shaw with 250 meters remaining.

“For a moment I was concerned that I couldn’t retake the lead,” said Shaw, “but I’ve run this race so many times that when we got to 150 meters, I knew I had him.”

The Cougar women didn’t win their 4x800, finishing second behind Simon Fraser, but they did shatter the school record by 7 seconds, running an 8:58.74.

Their effort in the 4x800 combined with the performances of Vivian Chukwuemeka and Barbara Sugar in the discus allowed Azusa Pacific to maintain its lead in the race for the team title. Chukwuemeka won the discus with a toss of 167’ 3” while Sugar was second with a throw of 157’ 9”.

Morgan Altizer provided an additional an 4 points by finishing fifth in the heptathlon with 4,543 points. With the showing, she becomes the first Cougar freshman ever to earn All-America recognition in the heptathlon. The Cougars have tallied 52 points through 11 events.

“We’re right on course,” said Cougar coach Mike Barnett. “We haven’t slipped and we’ve performed well in the events that we’re supposed to. The record by the 4x800 relay is a nice boost for the whole team. If we continue to compete as well as we have the first 2 days, I think we’ll be hard to catch.”

The Cougars have plenty of potential points to tally during Saturday’s final day of competition. Pre-meet favorite Niema Golphin advanced into the finals of the 400 meters with a semifinal-best 54.86 during Friday’s competition. Senior Tamara Jones moved into the 800 finals by clocking a career-best 2:15.50 in the semifinals. Sophomore Lorraine Swaby moved into the finals of the 400-meter hurdles, albeit with a nerve-wracking effort. Swaby, who owns the NAIA’s best time this season, ran a 1:01.99, nearly 2 seconds off her season best, and barely managed to make the final 9. Swaby, Jones and Golphin closed out the day by teaming to lead the 4x400 relay into the finals with a 3:48.84 in the semis.

The Cougar men’s national championship hopes suffered a death blow when muscle tightness continued to slow All-American Mike Mitchell. A cramp suffered during Thursday’s preliminary competition resurfaced Friday in the form of tightness in Mitchell’s leg during Friday’s final competition. A heavy favorite to win both the long jump and 100 meters, Mitchell instead finished second and fifth respectively, jumping 24-5 ¾”, more than a foot below his season best, before clocking a 10.62, a far cry from the 10.07 he ran during Thursday’s preliminary rounds.

Mitchell still has 2 races to run on Saturday as the anchor leg of the Cougars’ 4x100 and 4x400 relays. Azusa Pacific’s short relay advanced into the finals with a 41.05 on Friday while the mile relay clocked a 3:11.99.

Senior Mark Grubbs came back Friday morning to finish sixth in the javelin, an event that was postponed with 10 throws remaining during Thursday’s competition because of heavy rains. Grubbs posted a career-best throw of 192’ 1” to finish sixth and collect his first-ever All-America recognition.

Freshman Matt Sparks tallied a bonus point for the Cougars with an eighth-place showing in the 110-meter high hurdles at 14.84.

NAIA Outdoor Championship Meet concludes Saturday (May 29) with 23 event finals, including the meet-closing men’s and women’s 4x400 relays, both of which Azusa Pacific is among the favorites to win. For complete 2-day results, go the NAIA web site at www.naia.org.