NCAA II Track : Abilene Christian Takes the Lead After 10 Events

Abilene Christian dominated the team scoring, but several Southland athletes distinguished themselves in the first day of the NCAA Division II track and field championships Friday at Cal State Los Angeles.

After 10 events, Abilene Christian leads the men’s scoring with 82 points. Cal State Northridge is second with 28.

In women’s competition, after eight events, Abilene Christian leads with 61 points to 48 for runnerup Alabama A&M.;

Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, the pre-meet favorite, is third with 47 points. The Mustangs still like their chances of winning the title today.

In the closest race of the day, freshman Gordon Bugg of Cal State L.A. set a stadium record of 50.27 in winning the 400-meter intermediate hurdles. Behind Bugg came Ladrick Trusty of Abilene Christian (50.52) and James Avery of Cal State Bakersfield (50.55). Bugg broke the mark of 50.82, set in Thursday’s preliminaries.

Robert Missio of Cal State Bakersfield won the hammer throw at 201-6 and Aaron Buckholtz of Cal State Northridge followed at 200-10.

John Ward of Central Connecticut State won the javelin at 247-11, followed by Shawn Denton of Cal State Northridge (241-10) and Alan Collatz of Cal State Bakersfield (241-7).

The best effort among the women was turned in by Alabama A&M; sprinter Danette Young. She successfully defended her 200-meter title by easily beating Camille Coates of Abilene Christian and Patrice Carpenter of Cal Poly SLO.

Young’s time of 22.92 set Division II, meet and stadium records. Coates and Carpenter were timed in 23.70 and 23.81, respectively.

Athletes finishing first and second, if their marks meet prescribed standards, will be invited to the Division I championships next week at Austin, Tex.