JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. – Sophomore Brian Bernard (Eugene, Ore./Willamette HS) posted personal bests in the shot put and 1000 meters and narrowly missed similar bests in the long jump and high jump, as the once and future Cougar rallied to win the pentathlon during the first day of NAIA Indoor Track & Field Championships at East Tennessee State.

Bernard, who competed for Azusa Pacific as a freshman in 2002 and then left, returned this year and wasted no time etching his name into the Cougar track & field record book. His 5-event point total of 3,731 points in the pentathlon places him with former Cougar greats Tage Peterson (1995 and 1998) and Olympic silver medalist Bryan Clay (2000-02) as NAIA pentathlon champs.

Through 2 events Bernard was in third place. However, he recorded a mark of 39’ 2 ½” in the shot put, posted a solid effort of 6’ 7½” in the high jump, and then topped off his day with a 2:52.24 in the 1000, a personal record by 6 seconds. Though he won just 1 of the 5 events (high jump), he marks were quite consistent, allowing him to beat Hastings College junior Chris Gamble, who finished second with 3,672 points.

Bernard’s victory gives Azusa Pacific a quick 10 points and the early lead in what is expected to be a very tight race for the men’s national championship.

The Cougar women collected 7 first-day points with 2 athletes scoring in the pentathlon. Sophomore All-American Morgan Altizer (Thousand Oaks, Calif./Thousand Oaks HS) scored a career-high 3,408 points to finish third. Altizer came on strong toward the end of the event with career-best efforts in the long jump (17’ 9¾”) and 800 meters (2:29.96).

Freshman Ryann Hansen (Milton, Wash./Fife HS) was the surprise of the pentathlon field, finishing sixth with 3,182 points, collecting an All-American honor in her first-ever national championship event. Hansen, who had never completed a pentathlon before until last month, came into the meet with the 12th best score in the NAIA. However, she PR’d by more 250 points.

Fellow freshman Capree Bell (Boise, Ida./Centennial HS) was in second place going into the pentathlon’s final event, the 800 meters. However, Bell got caught going out with a fast set of runners and then struggled over the final lap, finishing with a 3:09.43 which dropped her to ninth in the final standings.

In preliminary races run late in the evening, Azusa Pacific advanced its women’s 4x800 relays, men’s and women’s distance medley relays and its men’s 4x400 relay into the finals. The men’s 4x800 is already slotted for an appearance in the finals.

Day 2 of the 3-day NAIA Indoor Track & Field Championships continues on Friday (March 4). Click here for complete and live results as the championship meets unfold.