The NCAA News - News and Features

May 19, 1997

Division II

Abilene Christian appears invincible

Event: 1997 Division II Men's Outdoor Track and Field Championships.

Overview: Abilene Christian romped to a 711/2-point victory at the 1996 championships, and there's little indication that the Wildcats are ready to relinquish their title. Fresh off a record-setting performance and victory at the indoor championships in March, coach Wes Kittley's squad will be well-represented at the outdoor meet. Defending 10,000-meter run champion Fallody Moonga, Sayon Cooper, Kempa Busby, Musa Gwanzura, David Kemei and Glenn Griffin are among many competitors vying for individual titles. All of the aforementioned (except Moonga) won events at the 1997 indoor championships. Cooper leads the Wildcats' sprints corps, posting the nation's top qualifying marks in both the 100- and 200-meter dashes. Gwanzura (800- and 1,500-meter runs), Kemei (3,000-meter run) and Moonga headline the middle-distance and distance squads, and Griffin is a double field-event champion indoors .... St. Augustine's, which had its seven-year title reign snapped by the Wildcats at the 1996 championships, looks to challenge behind sprinters Ewart Scott (100-meter dash) and Gabriel Burnett (100- and 200-meter dashes), hurdlers Derrick Trimble (110-meter highs) and Daren Foster (400-meter intermediates), and Burkheart Ellis (long jump and triple jump) and Dayton Watson (high jump) .... Angelo State, which placed third in 1996, will be represented by Dave McCune (110-meter high hurdles), Marlon Thomas (400-meter intermediate hurdles), J. J. Miller (pole vault), Darrin Session (long jump), Rogers Davis (javelin throw) and Lee McCown (decathlon) .... Another contender, Central Missouri State, features defending 1,500-meter run champion Alexandr Alexin.

Field: A maximum of 236 student-athletes will qualify for the championships.

Dates and site: May 22-24 at Southern Illinois-Edwardsville.

Information/results: The fax-on-demand telephone number is 770/399-3060 (passcode 1915); request numbers are 1629 for dates/site/schedule, 5294 for qualifiers, 5295 for first-day results; 5296 for second-day results, 5297 for third-day results and 5298 for final results only. Championships results also will be available on the World Wide Web at www.ncaa.org. Results will be published in the June 2 issue of The NCAA News.