LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Junior Barbara Sugar wasted no time giving the Azusa Pacific women the early lead in the NAIA Outdoor Track & Field Championships by capturing her first ever NAIA title with a convincing victory in the hammer.

The pre-meet favorite, Sugar was consistent throughout all 6 of her throws, using a best effort of 176’ 10” to win the event by more than 6 feet. It was the third-best winning throw in NAIA history and it made the Sugar the second Cougar ever to win an NAIA hammer title (Sarah Roberts won the 2001 crown).

Fellow junior Kristi Young collected her first-ever All-American honor by finishing fourth in the hammer with a heave of 163’ 7”, a personal-best by nearly 7 feet.

“It was a great way to start,” said Cougar women’s head coach Mike Barnett following the championship meet’s first finals event. “Barbara did what was expected of her in winning the event. Kristi was a very pleasant surprise, though not totally because she has been getting better in every meet this season.”

The hammer duo’s performance gave Azusa Pacific 15 points and the lead after the day 1 of the 3-day meet. Doane College (Neb.), which scored in 3 of the day’s 4 event finals, is second with 11 points. Five other schools are tied for third with 10 points.

After the first day of competition in the 2-day heptathlon, Azusa Pacific sophomore Morgan Altizer is third with 2,945 points, 97 behind Cathi Velzen of Cornerstone (Mich.). Freshman Capree Bell is right behind Altizer in fourth with 2,942 points.

Altizer posted personal bests in 2 of the 4 heptathlon events staged during Thursday’s competition -- the 100-meter high hurdles (14.93) and high jump (5’ 2¼”). Though Bell didn’t record any personal bests, she was consistently strong through all 4 events which included a 14.77 in the hurdles, the third best time among the 16 competitors.

In preliminary competition, freshman Kjersti Housman advanced to Friday’s semifinals of the 400-meter hurdles with a 1:04.28 to finish third in her heat. Sophomore Whitney Jacobsmeyer is in the finals of the 3000-meter steeplechase after clocking an 11:20.32 to finish fourth in her heat with the eighth best overall time. Unfortunately, the marvelous career of senior Brianna Carstensen came to an unceremonious end in the same heat. The 19-time All-American and most celebrated athlete in Azusa Pacific women’s track & field history came into the meet with the NAIA’s top time this season in the steeplechase. Try as she might, though, she could not overcome an injured heel suffered a month ago, and it kept from moving into the steeplechase finals by limiting her to just an 11:56.28, nearly 90 seconds off her school-record performance she recorded 6 weeks ago.

On the men’s side, Azusa Pacific did not score in any of the Thursday’s 3 event finals. Yet, the Cougars are in prime position to collect large amounts of points on Friday. In the decathlon, junior Brian Bernard leads at the halfway point with 3,709 points, taking a 73-point cushion into Friday’s final 5 events. Freshman David Pichler is putting together the best decathlon on his career, tallying a first-day best of 3,391 points to sit in seventh place at the moment.

Both Bernard and Pichler closed the first day of competition with lifetime bests in the 400 meters. Bernard blazed his first-ever sub-50 quarter with a 49.96 while Pichler was on Bernard’s heels with a 50.08. The pair also posted personal-bests in the high jump with Bernard clearing 6’ 8” and Pichler going 5’ 9¼”. Pichler took a brief break from the decathlon to run in the open high hurdles and advance to the semifinals with a rather surprisingly impressive time of 14.54.

Meanwhile, sophomore Matt Sparks moved along in a most difficult double, first moving into the semis of the 110-meter high hurdles with a 14.85 in 1 of 3 prelim races, which he followed moments later with a 53.97 to get into the semis of the 400 hurdles.

Sophomore Peter Sherman, who has been getting significantly stronger as the season progresses, posted an 8-second PR in the steeplechase with a 9:17.62 to advance to the finals.

The men’s 4x800-meter relay team of Tim Ramirez, Kevin Lindsey, Caleb Lynch and Danny Reid won their heat with a 7:39.43 to advance to the finals with the second-best time of 2 prelim races.

Day 2 of the NAIA Outdoor Track & Field Championships begins early Friday morning with the continuation of the decathlon and heptathlon.

Click here to view up-to-the-minute results of the NAIA Championship Meet.