EAGLE ROCK, Calif. –- All they were looking for was a last chance to improve their marks heading into the NAIA Championship Meet in 2 weeks. What seniors Tim Ramirez and Vivian Chukwuemeka got was much more than that.

The 2 NAIA champions broke school records in the final tune-up of the season at the Occidental Invitational, and while Chukwuemeka’s mark is hardly a surprise, Ramirez’s effort is a stunner. The fifth-year senior out of Simi Valley, Calif., broke the oldest record in the Cougar books, a standard that has stood for 30 years. Ramirez clocked a sizzling 3:45.22 in the 1500 meters to best Dennis Caldwell’s former school record of 3:45.72 that he set back in 1976 when Bruce Jenner was winning gold in Montreal and Jimmy Carter was earning a 4-year stay in the White House.

Ramirez, who is coming off an injury-plagued 2005, first began flirting with the long-standing mark earlier this season when he ran a 3:47.03 at the Mt. SAC Relays. Most observers, including Ramirez himself, figured his best chance to get the record would come in his last chance – the NAIA Championship Meet – and even then that may have been difficult to pull off considering the number of races he would have to run in Fresno, site of the NAIA meet, and the fatigue factor that would play in account.

“It’s not only great he got the record, it’s great that he got it now,” said Cougar men’s coach Kevin Reid. “Now he can just concentrate on winning the event at the NAIAs, conserve his energy in the preliminaries, and not worry about a record.”

Unless, of course, Ramirez wants to go after the NAIA record of 3:43.00, which is only 5 years old. But thoughts of that are for another day and another time.

With Ramirez’ record-setting run today, Terry Drake’s 9:05.3 in the steeplechase now becomes the oldest Cougar track & field record, set in 1979.

Meanwhile Chukwuemeka, a natural shot putter by trade, has evolved into the greatest hammer thrower in school history and perhaps the best in the NAIA this year. A 13-time NAIA champion, Chukwuemeka heaved the hammer 194’ 9” to break her own school record of 191’ 2” that she set 3 weeks ago at the GSAC Championships. At this pace, she could shatter the NAIA record of 182’ later this month.

Chukwuemeka’s record throw was just part of an outstanding set for the Cougars in the hammer. In their final chance of the year, sophomores Megan Ilertsen and Ruth Wilhelm automatically qualified for the NAIA Championship Meet by eclipsing 152’ 7.” Ilertsen threw a personal-record 157’ 9” while Wilhelm went 152’ 9.” With All-Americans Barbara Sugar and Kristi Young going 169’ 6” and 163’ 7” respectively, Azusa Pacific swept the top 5 finishes at the Oxy Invite.

Overall, Azusa Pacific will be taking 5 hammer throwers to the NAIAs at Fresno.

In other notable performances at the Occidental meet, juniors Matt Parish and Tony Ramirez ran blistering 400 meters. Parish recorded the best time in the NAIA this year with 45.85, the second fastest quarter-mile in Azusa Pacific history, trailing only Olympian Innocent Egbunike’s school-record of 44.86. In addition, by running the first sub-46 400 of his career, Parish has qualified for his first-ever U.S. Track & Field Championship Meet, which will be held June 21-25, in Indianapolis. Ramirez, the younger brother of Tim, recorded a season-best 46.84. The pair form one-half of what could prove to be the best 4x400-meter relay in the NAIA this year.

In the men’s 800, All-American Danny Reid ran a personal-record 1:49.35, third best in program history. Hurdler Matt Sparks clocked season-bests in the 110 highs (14.35) and the 400 intermediates (53.09). Senior Mark Grubbs threw a lifetime best of 192’ 3” in the javelin to enhance his chances of scoring at the NAIA meet.

Back on the women’s side, sophomore Capree Bell automatically qualified for the NAIAs in the 100-meter hurdles with a 14.89. Chukwuemeka enhanced her NAIA-leading mark in the discus with a toss of 185’ 6.”