SAN DIEGO, Calif. –- Azusa Pacific grabbed the early lead in both the men’s and women’s division of the 21st Annual GSAC Track & Field Championships being held at Point Loma Nazarene this weekend.

The Cougar men won 5 of 8 final events staged during Friday’s opening day of competition and scored 108 points to open up a 50-point lead over second-place and meet host Point Loma. Westmont is third with 50 points.

Meanwhile, the Cougar women won 3 of 8 finals, all throwing events and all by Vivian Chukwuemeka, to tally 125.5 points and open up a 72-point advantage over second-place Point Loma Nazarene with 53 points. Fresno Pacific is currently third with 40.

Four-time GSAC champion Brian Bernard led the Cougar men out of the gate by winning a pair of events Friday, inching out a victory in the long jump (21’ 5 ¼”) before successfully defending his pole vault championship (15’ 5”), winning by nearly a foot over his nearest competitor.

Junior James Ferguson won his first-ever GSAC title by claiming the discus crown with a personal-best throw of 156’ 9.” Peter Sherman also won his first-ever GSAC championship with a victory in the steeplechase (9:44.9).

Meanwhile, Chukwuemeka tallied 30 of the Cougar women’s points by winning the discus (160’ 7”), hammer (191’ 2’) and most significantly the javelin (134-6). In only her second javelin competition ever, Chukwuemeka, who picked up the event 2 weeks ago, beat the competition by nearly 10 feet. Her effort in the hammer broke her own Azusa Pacific and GSAC record in that event, bettering her previous school standard by 13 inches.

Led by Chukwuemeka, the Cougars scored 74 points in 3 throwing events. All-American Barbara Sugar was second in the discus (personal-best 159’ 11”) and third in the hammer (180’ 9”), while sophomore Ruth Wilhelm scored in all 3 throw events staged today, finishing third in the javelin with a season-best effort (120’ 4”)

In notable efforts performed in some of the preliminaries, Brett Bultje (10.75) and Nate Nasca (10.91) advanced to the men’s 100-meter finals with career-best times, while in his first 200 meters of the season, defending GSAC champ Tony Ramirez clocked a sizzling 21.42.

On the women’s side, Lorraine Swaby moved into the 200 finals with a personal best (25.49) and recorded a fine 56.43 in the 400.

The GSAC Championship Meet concludes Saturday.