Abilene Christian, Lincoln Defend Titles

NCAA Division II Track and Field Championships conclude

WALNUT – The location was different, but the results were very much the same.

The NCAA Division II Outdoor Track and Field Championships were held in Southern California for the first time since 1996 and defending champions from Abilene Christian and Lincoln University made the trip West worthwhile.

Abilene Christian won its third straight men’s championships with a thrilling one-point win over St. Augustine’s, while the Lincoln University women posted a narrow four-point win over second-place Adams State on Saturday at Mt. San Antonio College’s Hilmer Lodge Stadium. Cal Poly Pomona hosted the three-day event. Both the men’s and women’s divisions came down to the final event of the day, the 4x400 relay.

It was also an impressive day for defending individual champions. Shandria Brown of Lincoln repeated in both the women’s 100 and 200, which went a long way toward pushing her team to the national title. She won the 100 meters in 11.33. It came down to the final race, the 4x400 relay which Lincoln won in 3:39.23 with the quartet of Lileith Sims, Marlene Smith, Kelly Marshall and Moya Thompson. The team immediately broke into chants of “back-to-back, back-to-back.” Thompson also won the 400.

Adams State was led by former Orange County star Zoila Gomez, who won the 5,000 meters on Saturday with a time of 16:32.97. She also won the 10,000 meters on Thursday.

“We had an unexpected surprise from Elfreda Reid (who earned points with a seventh-place finish in the shot put). We expected to get a lot more points in the 200 and we were concerned Adams State had a lot left. I take my hats off to the girls,” Lincoln Head Coach Victor Thomas said. “The weather was much better today than it was (Friday), but it didn’t really affect us. The experience has been great.”

The men’s competition was just as close and Abilene Christian needed a third-place finish from its 4x400 relay team to hold off St. Augustine’s, which won the final event in 3:05.61.

“I’ve been planning every day for (winning a third straight title),” Abilene Christian head coach Jon Murray said. “St. Augustine’s has a very good program and it looked like we had our work cut out, but our team did a great job and kept improving. We got a very pleasant surprise in the men’s 200 (second-place finish from Marvin Bien-Amie). You’ve got to love it when you have guys like that. You can take it to the bank and build a foundation upon it. We’ve come to rely on our triple jump crew here for the past several years.”

That group wracked up major points Saturday. Yevgen Pashchenko won the event with a mark of 52-7 ¼, while Ben Washington was third with a mark of 50-10 ¼. Abilene Christian also got a pair of victories from the sensational Bernard Manirakiza, who won the 800 meters (1:50.23) and the 1500 (3:44.98).

Bershawn Jackson, the standout freshman 400 meter hurdler from St. Augustine’s won his specialty in 49.62, edging teammate and defending champion Adrian Findlay, who was second in 49.82. St. Augustine’s also got second and third-place finishes from Enrique Llanos and Chris Stephens in the 110 high hurdles (Tarmo Jallai of Texas A&M Kingsville won the event in 13.67) and a 3-4-5 finish in the 400 from Nathaniel McKinney, Wilan Louis and Jamaal Torrance. Oluwagbenga Awoleye of Tarleton State won the championship with a time of 46.05.

Texas A&M Kingsville won the men’s 4x100 relay with a time of 39.49, edging Lincoln University’s second-place time of 39.60.

It was also a good day for local host Cal Poly Pomona, which got an All-American performance from Carmen Franklin (So., Sacramento, Loretto HS), who finished strongly to take sixth in the women’s 800 meters in 2:13.15. The California Collegiate Athletic Association 400 meter champion became only the second Cal Poly Pomona female to earn All-America honors since 1999.

“It feels great to be an All-American; this wasn’t even the race I was thinking of,” said Franklin, who prefers the 400. “I was thinking I was good enough to make it. The reason I did so well was because I have the best team and family with all their encouragement. I wouldn’t have been able to go half as far as I did.”

Cal Poly Pomona also had women’s high jumper Topaz Marcos (Fr., Upland, Upland HS) compete on Saturday and she cleared 5-4 ¼ before bowing out. She finished 14^th in the event.

Defending champion Nick Slotterback of Lock Haven captured the men’s javelin with a toss of 217-10, while Dan Soldner of Minnesota Deluth.

Kelly Frick got the competition off to a good start by winning the women’s javelin with a toss of 164-00, which was her best mark of the season by more than eight feet. It was her first throw of the competition and it held up throughout the competition. Leah Shireman of Pittsburg State was second with a toss of 149-00, while Kelly Frick, who came into the competition with the 14^th-best qualifying mark, was third with a throw of 148-09.

In the first men’s championship of the day, Dan Soldner of Minnesota-Deluth won the men’s shot put with a toss of 59-2 ¾. Bennie Oliver of Tarleton State was second with a mark of 58-4, while Nate Wheat of Nebraska-Kearney was third.

There were two meet records set during the three-day event. Damieon Smith of Indianapolis in the men’s hammer throw at 218-04 and Jackson in the prelims of the 400 men’s hurdles at 48.50.