NCAA Division II Championships : Abilene Christian Scores a Track Sweep

Abilene Christian won both the men’s and women’s titles Saturday in the NCAA Division II track and field championships at Cal State Los Angeles, becoming the first school to sweep the honors.

The Abilene Christian women ended the three-year reign of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, which had won every title since the championships became an NCAA-sanctioned event in 1982.

Behind going into the last event, the triple jump, Abilene Christian pulled it out when Ann Foster emerged the winner at 41 feet 9 1/2 inches. That gave Abilene Christian 106 points to 103 for Cal Poly.

Abilene Christian’s men’s team, meanwhile, made a rout of it, scoring 171 points to 63 for runner-up East Texas State. The win was the fourth straight for the Texas school, breaking the record it shared with Cal Poly SLO.

The most impressive individuals were a pair of African runners, Samson Obwocha and Agapius Amo of East Texas State.

On Friday, Obwocha and Amo placed 1-2 in the 3,000-meter steeplechase and Amo took third in the 10,000.

Saturday, Obwocha won the 1,500 in 3 minutes 43.35 seconds and only 45 minutes later placed second in the 5,000 behind winner Rob Juergens of Ashland. Amo was fifth in the 5,000.

Obwocha, a native of Kenya, said that Saturday’s hot weather (82 degrees and sunny), which bothered some of the athletes, was no problem.

“I train in Texas where it’s hot ,” Obwocha said. “So this was no problem for me. I’m used to running in the heat.

“And if I’d have had more time in between races, I might’ve taken first in the 1,500 instead of second. I wasn’t really tired, but my muscles were tight. I could’ve used more time to stretch. I was proud of what I did anyway.”

Also proud were Cal Poly SLO’s Lady Mustangs, who finished just three points away from their fourth straight title. Their best effort came from Robyn Root, who set a Division II record in the 10,000-meter run Wednesday and took a second in the 5,000-meter Saturday.

Julie Bowers of West Chester (Pa.) won the 5,000-meters in 15:59.34 and Root stayed close but could not overtake her, eventually finishing in 16:04.74.

“That’s as fast as I can run,” Root said, “and she beat me. I did the best I could. On that last lap, my body was telling me I’d reached my limit.

‘You know how when you’re driving late at night and your eyes get real tired and you can’t keep them open? Well that’s what my body felt like on the last lap.”