LOUISVILLE, Ky. –- Azusa Pacific captured its second straight NAIA women’s outdoor track & field championship today by using the arm of Vivian Chukwuemeka and the legs of Niema Golphin to run away from the competition, beating second-place Lindenwood (Mo.) by a count of 104-76. The Cougars become the first team since Central State (Ohio) in 1993 and 1994 to win back-to-back outright titles.

Combined with a 2 NAIA indoor crowns captured in the past 16 months, Azusa Pacific becomes the first NAIA school ever to sweep back-to-back indoor and outdoor championships.

Though Azusa Pacific led throughout the entire 3-day meet, Lindenwood closed to within 8 points at 58-50 midway through Saturday’s competition before Chukwuemeka and Golphin took center stage. Chukwuemeka won her third straight NAIA shot title with a season-best put of 58’ 3”. Now an 11-time NAIA champion, the most ever by a Cougar female, Chukwuemeka took the lead on the first put and never relinquished it, beating her nearest competitor by nearly 12 feet.

“This is a step in the right direction,” said Chukwuemeka, who scored 28 points in the throws this weekend and is hoping to earn a spot on the Nigerian Olympic team this summer. “I felt great in warm-ups and was thinking I could get to 18 meters (60 feet) today. Still, this is a good stepping stone for this summer.”

Golphin, a junior who won the NAIA indoor 400 meters in March, made it a sweep by taking the outdoor 400 Saturday with a winning effort of 53.55 to match her personal best clocked earlier this season. Forty minutes later, she was back on the track to finish seventh in the 200 meters at 24.40. She then punched the clock for overtime work by anchoring the Cougars’ 4x400-meter relay to victory with a 3:44.64 in the final event of the meet. On the final leg, Golphin rallied the Cougars from fourth place and into the lead over the final 120 meters of the race.

“Mentally, I was ready to go fast, but my body wasn’t,” said Golphin who had a hand in 22 points Saturday. “I was just stronger over the last 200 meters, not necessarily faster. After winning the open 400, I wasn’t expecting anything less than a victory in the 4x400.”

Junior Brianna Carstensen collected her 16th All-America honor in her 3-year Azusa Pacific career by finishing third in the 1500 meters, tying her own school record at 4:28.08. Fellow distance teammate Christine Krause closed out an outstanding 4-year career with another school-record effort in the steeplechase, recording an 11:00.35 to better her own school mark by 7 seconds and finish sixth overall with her 11th All-America honor.

“It is nice to know that we came here represented in every event except 3 and had standouts in the sprints, distances and throws”, said Cougar women’s coach Mike Barnett, who was named NAIA Coach of the Year again after garnering the honor as well last year. “We came here with one purpose – to win. There is a new tradition in women’s track & field and it puts more pressure on us.”

For the second straight year, the Azusa Pacific men finished third in the overall team standings, collecting 59 points to trail only first-time champion Dickinson State (N.D.), which tallied 91 points, and Lindenwood (Mo.), which scored 72 points.

Junior Brandon Shaw and freshman Tony Ramirez were national runners-up in the 800 and 400 meters, respectively. Shaw recorded the third fastest 800 in school history at 1:49.58 and led for 700 meters until Spring Arbor’s David Rotich caught Shaw down the stretch to win by more than a second. Ramirez registered a personal-best 46.91, the fourth best 400 in school history.

Ramirez came back to anchor the Cougar 4x400 relay to its second straight NAIA title with a season-best time of 3:09.03. The third-place showing is the Cougars’ 21st top-5 finish at the NAIA meet over the past 22 years.

Azusa Pacific has now won 24 NAIA national championships since 1980, third most in association history.