Will this be the return of the king or the crowning of a new ruler? Is a new dynasty about to be established or is there a different empire on the horizon?

The 55th Annual NAIA Men’s Outdoor Track & Field Championships will settle those issues and more when 103 schools meet in Fresno, Calif., this week (May 25-27) to battle for one team championship and 24 event titles in what is typically the largest collegiate track & field meet in the United States.

Past NAIA Outdoor Championships have been the site of dramatic moments and thrilling finishes, and this year’s run to the title may be no different.

Among the pre-meet favorites to capture the ultimate prize – the team championship – are 3 schools all with unique backgrounds heading into the 2006 championship meet.

Dickinson State (N.D.) is the 2-time defending champ and seeking to become only the fifth school in association history to capture 3 consecutive crowns. It is a dynasty in the making for the Blue Hawks, who are taking 13 athletes to Fresno, including a pair of returning national champions – Aaron Cleare, a 2-time winner in the 400 meters, and Trevor Berry, who won last year’s long jump with only the second 25-foot leap in the past 9 NAIA meets.

Lindenwood (Mo.) has 26 athletes scheduled to compete in Fresno, including 2-time indoor sprint champ Michael Rodgers, who also owns the top time in the NAIA this season in the 100 meters (10.18).

Virginia Intermont, located amongst the hills surrounding Bristol, Va., has no peer in the distance races. The Cobras have won the past 2 NAIA cross country championships, dominating the field in both instances, and the corps of those title teams is still intact. The question isn’t really whether or not Cobras will win the distance races in Fresno, but rather will they break NAIA records. The Cobras will be primed to capture their first-ever NAIA track & field championship, a title that has narrowly eluded them that past 2 years on both the indoor and outdoor circuit.

Yet, the pre-meet favorite to beat all teams is Azusa Pacific. In the history of NAIA track & field, no school has dominated the sport like Azusa Pacific. The Cougars have won 17 NAIA championships since 1983, including 13 in the outdoor meet. However, it’s been 4 years since Azusa Pacific has claimed a team title. This meet, though, could be the one in which Azusa Pacific returns as the king of NAIA track.

Past Cougar teams excelled in the throws, jumps and decathlon. This team, however, is as balanced as any championship contender could be. Azusa Pacific is looking to score in half of the 24 events staged, and could eclipse the century figure by the meet’s end.

The Ramirez brothers, Tim and Tony, who between them have grabbed over 20 All-American honors, carry the Cougar torch on the track. In the past 2 weeks, Tim has qualified for the U.S. Championships in both the 800 and 1500 meters, breaking school records in the process including a 30-year standard in the 1500. Tony is the reigning NAIA indoor 400-meter champion but he is running the 200 instead in Fresno. Nonetheless, Tony will anchor Azusa Pacific’s NAIA-leading 4x400-meter relay. While Tim will by-pass the 800 and run only the open 1500, he’ll lead perhaps the best collection of half-milers in school history to anchor a 4x800-meter relay that is headed for a electric showdown with Virginia Intermont’s 4x800. The NAIA record will be on the line in this second meeting of the two star-studded relays. At the Penn Relays in April, Azusa Pacific edged VIC, registering a school-record and NAIA-leading 7:23.85. Danny Reid, Kevin Lindsey, and Caleb Lynch round out the Cougars’ outstanding 4x800 relay. Reid and Lindsey will also run in the open 800. An 11-time NAIA All-American, Reid enters the championship meet with the second best 800 time in the NAIA this season, a 1:49:35, the third best half mile in program history.

Junior Matt Parish looks to put the perfect cap on a sterling breakthrough season in which he has established himself not only as the NAIA’s top quartermiler this year but one of the best in Cougar track & field history. The junior out of Medford, Ore., has clocked an NAIA-leading 45.85 this year, the second-best time in Cougar history. He’ll anchor the NAIA’s top 4x400-meter relay that includes Lynch and the Ramirez brothers. That quartet registered a 3:09.12 earlier this year, the second best time ever by a Cougar foursome.

Throughout the 1980s, the Cougars had the best collection of throwers for any school in the nation. However, it’s been 4 years since Azusa Pacific had an NAIA champion thrower. Junior James Ferguson could change of that with one heave. Ferguson, a transfer from Mt. SAC, is scheduled to compete in the discus, shot and hammer, and it’s the hammer where he is expected to shine and perhaps collect a national title. He has a season-best throw of 195-10 which is the third best in the NAIA this season.

Meanwhile, junior Matt Sparks is attempting the difficult double of All-American performances in the 110-meter high hurdles and the 400-meter intermediate hurdles. Sparks has an NAIA-leading time of 14.35 in the high hurdles.

In the decathlon, only 16 points separate the NAIA’s top 2 performers, Azusa Pacific’s Brian Bernard and British Columbia’s Aaron Dixon. Interestingly, the NAIA Outdoor Championships will be their second head-to-head competition this season. In April, Bernard edged Dixon, 6,730 to 6,714, in a decathlon in Azusa, Calif.

Twenty-two Cougar women have made the trek to Fresno Pacific, scheduled to compete in 7 events. No school is as strong as Azusa Pacific in throws where the Cougars could score as many as 58 points.

Leader of the gang is senior Vivian Chukwuemeka, who is favored to win at least 3 throwing events and perhaps a record fourth. The Nigerian native, who already holds 4 NAIA event records, has won 13 NAIA individual titles, the most in association history. She is likely to put together a near-perfect ending to her collegiate career by taking the shot, hammer and discus titles this weekend. However, it is in the javelin where she is creating the buzz. Chukwuemeka threw her first javelin just 2 months ago and she qualified for the NAIAs in her first competition. Though she’s not favored to win, she is among the nation’s top spear-tossers, and if she were to win the javelin, she would become the first athlete, male or female, in NAIA history to win all 4 throwing events.

Chukwuemeka leads a contingent of great Cougars throwers in the hammer. Azusa Pacific could place 5 athletes among the final 8, including defending NAIA champ Barbara Sugar, All-American Kristi Young and sophomores Ruth Wilhelm and Megan Ilertsen.

On the track, juniors Lorraine Swaby and Sarah Jackson will vie for All-America recognition in the 400-meter hurdles.

The Cougars aren’t likely to win the team title but rather battle for a place among the top 4, and more specifically, locking horns with Lindenwood for third place.

Over 1,150 athletes will compete this week in Fresno, which becomes the third California city to host the NAIA Outdoor Track & Field Championship Meet and the first since Azusa hosted the event in 1995.

Click here for more detailed information on the NAIA Outdoor Track & Field Championships, including meet entries, rosters, schedule and live results.