The NCAA News - News and Features

March 23, 1998

Abilene Christian men dominate field in rolling to another II indoor men's title

Everything comes to an end, right?

Unfortunately for Division II men's indoor track coaches, the answer appears to be "no" regarding Abilene Christian's reign at the championships -- at least for now.

One year removed from recording the most points ever in NCAA indoor track competition (132), Abilene Christian amassed "only" 97 points to win its third consecutive title March 13-14 at Indianapolis.

The Wildcats, who have run wild at the championships five of the last six years (they finished second in 1995) claimed five individual titles to outdistance St. Augustine's for the third consecutive year. The Falcons compiled 59 points.

Central Missouri State, with 34 points, was a distant third, while Morehouse and Wheeling Jesuit were fourth and fifth, respectively, with 20 and 14 points.

Abilene Christian's women's team also won the title, marking the third consecutive year and sixth time overall that the school has swept the men's and women's championships.

"We had a phenomenal meet," said Abilene Christian coach Wes Kittley. "I thought we could score at least 70 points, but we got 97. Musa (Gwanzura) was great. He hasn't been able to train like he needs to, so that shows his mental toughness to win.

"It's a great way to start the year. Now, we have a chance to win four again."

Just how dominant were the Wildcats? Consider that they received points from 14 individuals and scored in 11 of 13 events.

Gwanzura was the Wildcats' top performer, amassing 20 points with a sweep of the 800-meter and mile runs. The first competitor to win the 800-mile double and only the fourth to win two titles in the same year, Gwanzura smashed the championships record in the mile run with a time of 4 minutes, 4.76 seconds. The 800 title was Gwanzura's second in a row.

Joining Gwanzura in the victory circle were Wildcats Mickey Grimes, who won the 55-meter dash, and Ayodele Aladefa, the long-jump champion. Grimes secured his first title, sprinting to a time of 6.31 seconds, while Aladefa leaped 7.65 meters (25 feet, 1 1/4 inches) to win his first long-jump crown.

The Wildcats' quartet of Jason Prann, Brian TenEyck, Lincoln London and Kempa Busby successfully defended the squad's 1,600-meter relay crown.

Salem Messaoui and Terrence Woods each added double-digit points, garnering 12 and 10 points, respectively, while Busby added eight points with a second-place showing in the 400-meter dash.

Abilene Christian may have had a stranglehold on the team title, but athletes from other schools won several individual titles.

Jerome Young of St. Augustine's, Gregory Roberts of Morehouse, Andy Richardson of Indianapolis and Dan Bourque of Southern Connecticut State each smashed records in winning their respective events.

Roberts won his second consecutive high-jump title, breaking his own record in the process. Roberts joined St. Augustine's James Shelton (1992-93) as the only competitors to win two consecutive high-jump crowns.

Young smashed the mark in the 400, Richardson in the shot put, and Bourque rewrote the standard in the 35-pound weight throw.

Steve Gordon of South Dakota successfully defended his triple-jump championship.

Division II men's indoor track

TEAM RESULTS

1. Abilene Christian, 97; 2. St. Augustine's, 59; 3. Central Mo. St., 34; 4. Morehouse, 20; 5. Wheeling Jesuit, 14; 6. (tie) New York Tech and South Dak., 12; 8. (tie) Emporia St., Indianapolis, North Dak. St., Southern Conn. St., Southern Ind., Tex. A&M-Kingsville and Western St., 10.

15. (tie) Augustana (S.D.), Morningside, North Dak. and South Dak. St., 8; 19. (tie) Fort Hays St. and Lewis, 7.

21. (tie) Adams St. and Ashland, 6; 23. (tie) Chadron St., East Stroudsburg, New Haven, Pittsburg St. and Wayne St. (Neb.), 4; 28. Neb.-Kearney, 2; 29. (tie) St. Cloud St. and Slippery Rock, 11Ž2.

31. (tie) Hillsdale and Truman St., 1.

INDIVIDUAL RESULTS

55-meter dash: 1. Mickey Grimes, Abilene Christian, 6.31; 2. Deworski Odom, St. Augustine's, 6.34; 3. Jason Harris, South Dak. St., 6.34; 4. Gabriel Burnett, St. Augustine's, 6.37; 5. Derrick Foster, Tex. A&M-Kingsville, 6.39; 6. Oscar Meneses, Abilene Christian, 6.41.

400-meter dash: 1. Jerome Young, St. Augustine's, 46.13 (meet record; old record, 46.17, Ryan Hayden, St. Augustine's, 1995); 2. Kempa Busby, Abilene Christian, 46.54; 3. Paston Coke, New York Tech, 47.31; 4. Brian TenEyck, Abilene Christian, 47.76; 5. Jason Breitzman, North Dak. St., 47.89; 6. Matt Antognoli, Truman St., 48.18.

800-meter run: 1. Musa Gwanzura, Abilene Christian, 1:52.36; 2. Ossie Mdzinizo, Augustana (S.D.), 1:52.57; 3. Heith Janke, North Dak. St., 1:52.83; 4. Gilbert Tuhabonye, Abilene Christian, 1:52.98; 5. Willy Best, Western St., 1:53.35; 6. Nick Burrow, South Dak. St., 1:53.40.

Mile run: 1. Musa Gwanzura, Abilene Christian, 4:04.76 (meet record; old record, 4:05.16, Alexandr Alexin, Central Mo. St., 1996); 2. Stephen Willis, Western St., 4:05.34; 3. Alexander Alexin, Central Mo. St., 4:05.45; 4. Salem Messaoui, Abilene Christian, 4:07.93; 5. Randy Benedict, Ashland, 4:08.03; 6. Kurt Knueve, Hillsdale, 4:08.14.

5,000-meter run: 1. Elly Rono, Southern Ind., 13:56.44; 2. Salem Messaoui, Abilene Christian, 14:25.66; 3. Jason Hubbard, Adams St., 14:33.52; 4. James McGown, Wayne St. (Neb.), 14:34.19; 5. Matt Hoyt, South Dak., 14:35.39; 6. Mark McKeown, South Dak. St., 14:37.53.

55-meter high hurdles: 1. Deworski Odom, St. Augustine's, 7.34; 2. Gabriel Burnett, St. Augustine's, 7.38; 3. Rusty Fry, Wheeling Jesuit, 7.40; 4. Brian Moorman, Pittsburg St., 7.41; 5. Rodrigues Pfister, St. Augustine's, 7.43; 6. Chris Wilson, Abilene Christian, 7.50.

1,600-meter relay: 1. Abilene Christian (Jason Prann, Brian TenEyck, Lincoln London, Kempa Busby), 3:09.46; 2. St. Augustine's, 3:10.09; 3. New York Tech, 3:15.17; 4. New Haven, 3:15.25; 5. North Dak. St., 3:16.93; 6. Morehouse, 3:18.38.

High jump: 1. Gregory Roberts, Morehouse, 2.23 (7-33Ž4) (meet record; old record, 2.22 [7-3 1Ž4], Gregory Roberts, Morehouse, 1997); 2. Marc Sondreal, North Dak., 2.14 (7-01Ž4); 3. Stephen Moore, Abilene Christian, 2.14 (7-01Ž4); 4. Terrance Woods, Abilene Christian, 2.14 (7-01Ž4); 5. Josh Long, Neb.-Kearney, 2.11 (6-11); 6. Michael White, Lewis, 2.03 (6-8).

Pole vault: 1. Andrei Skvortsov, Central Mo. St., 5.40 (17-81Ž2); 2. Matt Hickl, Tex. A&M-Kingsville, 5.30 (17-41Ž2); 3. Scott Preston, Lewis, 5.00 (16-43Ž4); 4. Jeff Sander, Central Mo. St., 4.75 (15-7); 5. (tie) Chad Eberhart, Slippery Rock, and Jed Bergstrom, St. Cloud St., 4.75 (15-7).

Long jump: 1. Ayodele Aladefa, Abilene Christian, 7.65 (25-11Ž4); 2. Kirkwood Newbold, Morehouse, 7.40 (24-31Ž2); 3. Lancelot Gooden, St. Augustine's, 7.37 (24-21Ž4); 4. Rob Stone, East Stroudsburg, 7.36 (24-13Ž4); 5. Joseph Herron, Emporia St., 7.14 (23-51Ž4); 6. Osbourne Moxey, Morehouse, 7.11 (23-4).

Triple jump: 1. Steve Gordon, South Dak., 16.05 (52-8); 2. Sergei Bykov, Wheeling Jesuit, 16.01 (52-61Ž2); 3. Terrance Woods, Abilene Christian, 15.38 (50-51Ž2); 4. James Robinson, Central Mo. St., 15.03 (49-33Ž4); 5. Cleveland McClory, St. Augustine's, 14.90 (48-103Ž4); 6. Lancelot Gooden, St. Augustine's, 14.86 (48-9).

Shot put: 1. Andy Richardson, Indianapolis, 19.37 (63-63Ž4) (meet record; old record, 18.58 [60-111Ž2], Tambi Wenj, Cal St. Los Angeles, 1996); 2. Jason Stuke, Emporia St., 18.06 (59-3); 3. Jeremy Hawks, Fort Hays St., 17.02 (55-101Ž4); 4. Jeff Kremer, Central Mo. St., 16.76 (55-0); 5. Doug Lytle, Chadron St., 16.67 (54-8 1Ž4); 6. Andy Kokhanovsky, Abilene Christian, 16.18 (53-1).

35-pound weight throw: 1. Dan Bourque, Southern Conn. St., 20.21 (66-33Ž4) (meet record, old record, 19.81 [65-0], Glenn Griffin, Abilene Christian, 1997); 2. John McEwen, Morningside, 19.91 (65-4); 3. Jeff Kremer, Central Mo. St., 19.04 (62-53Ž4); 4. Jeff Heddles, Ashland, 18.72 (61-5); 5. Doug Lytle, Chadron St., 18.22 (59-91Ž2); 6. Matt Kuhn, Fort Hays St., 17.40 (57-1).