LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Led by junior Kevin Lindsey, Azusa Pacific capped day 2 of the NAIA Outdoor Track & Field Championship Meet with a stunning upset victory in the men’s 4x800-meter relay.

While the victory makes Azusa Pacific the second school to win 3 straight 4x800 NAIA titles, it was nonetheless surprising in that the Cougars rallied from behind to beat pre-meet favorite Oklahoma Baptist. Running together for the first time ever, the quartet of Tim Ramriez, Lindsey, Caleb Lynch and Danny Reid blazed a 7:26.56 to beat OBU by more than 2 seconds and narrowly miss the NAIA record that the Cougars set last year at 7:26.13.

Lindsey is the only common thread among the 3 NAIA 4x800 titles, running the second and third legs on the 2003 and 2004 winning relays, respectively. Other than Lindsey, anchorman Reid is the only other repeat member from last year’s record-setting relay. For the senior Ramirez, who hadn’t run a 4x800 all year, it was a marvelous way to end his career. As a 2003 sophomore, he anchored the Cougars to their first-ever 4x800 NAIA title. Last year he was at the University of Arizona before returning to Azusa Pacific this season. However, injuries have slowed him all year until the past 2 weeks.

The victory, which is the first for the Cougar men during the 3-day NAIA championship meet, highlighted a day in which Azusa Pacific scored 27 points and moved into third place. Defending national champion Dickinson State (N.D.) leads with 63 points followed by reigning indoor champ Lindenwood (Mo.) with 42 points.

Sophomore Matt Sparks moved halfway to his goal of collecting All-America status in both hurdle races by finishing fourth in the 110-meter high hurdles with a 14.60. It was his third hurdle race of the day. Earlier the semifinals, he clocked a 14.41. Later in the afternoon, he qualified for the Saturday’s finals of the 400-meter intermediate hurdles with a 53.61.

In the decathlon, Azusa Pacific scored 12 more points with junior Brian Bernard finishing second with 6,680 points, while freshman David Pichler tallied a career-best 6,556 points to collect All-America recognition with a fifth-place showing. Bernard, the first day leader, lost his grip on first place in the seventh event with a sub-par effort of 92’ 7” in the discus, nearly 10 feet below his season best. He had hoped to make up for lost ground in the pole vault, but his clearance of 14’ 7½” was 16 inches below his season best that he reached just 2 weeks ago.

Meanwhile Pichler posted career bests in the discus (123’ 5”), javelin (148’ 0”) and 1500 meters (4:45.95) to complete an outstanding decathlon for the 19-year old. Bernard and Pichler become the 26th and 27th Cougars all-time to earn All-America honors in the decathlon, far and away the most for any event in program history.

In preliminary competition, Lindsey and Lynch advanced to the finals of the open 800 meters. Tony Ramirez, Tim’s younger brother, moved into the finals of the 400 meters but Matt Parish missed the finals by just .13 of a second. The Cougar 4x400 relay of Sparks, Brett Bultje, Parish and Tony Ramirez won its heat with a 3:12. 34 to qualify for the Saturday’s meet-closing final.

The Azusa Pacific women are currently second after 2 days of competition with 32 points. Simon Fraser leads with 40 points.

Junior Barbara Sugar, who won the hammer yesterday, collected another NAIA title today with a victory in the discus, launching the disc a personal-record 161’ 5” and in the process became the first female in NAIA history win the hammer and discus titles in the same meet.

Sophomore Morgan Altizer claimed 2 more All-America honors, first by tallying a personal-best 4,886 points to finish third in the heptathlon and then using a personal-record-tying leap of 11’ 11¾” to finish sixth in the pole vault.

Freshman Capree Bell was eighth in the hepathlon with a personal-record score of 4,574.

Though they did not score in the finals of their respective events, freshmen Ryann Hansen (37’ 9¼” in the triple jump), Melissa Leo (11’ 3¾” in the pole vault), and Ruth Wilhelm (140’ 1” in the discus) all recorded personal collegiate bests in their respective events today, giving legitimate reason for high hopes for the future of Azusa Pacific women’s track & field.

The NAIA Outdoor Track & Field Championship closes Saturday with the crowning of the men’s and women’s team championships.

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