The NCAA News - News and Features

The NCAA News -- March 15, 1999

II track spells dominance A-b-i-l-e-n-e C-h-r-i-s-t-i-a-n

Men maintain mastery with seventh title

Abilene Christian continued to leave little doubt over its domination of the Division II men's indoor track scene with its fourth consecutive championship March 5-6 in Indianapolis.

The Wildcats racked up 85 points for the second straight year to outdistance runner-up St. Augustine's by 35 points.

It is Abilene Christian's sixth title in seven years and its seventh overall, tying St. Augustine's for the Division II lead in team championships.

With its third straight second-place finish, St. Augustine's continued its run of being either the champion or runner-up in all 14 championships.

Abilene Christian had place-winners in 11 of the meet's 13 events, including champions Jason Prann in the 400-meter dash, Gilbert Tuhabonye in the 800-meter run and Terrance Woods in the triple jump.

"It felt good to win," Prann said. "This is something I have worked very hard for since last summer."

Tuhabonye's win in the 800 was the third straight for an Abilene Christian competitor and the sixth in the last seven years.

Woods' winning leap of 52 feet, 1 inch enabled him to edge Morehouse's Dane Magloire by just one inch.

"Words can't express what this means," Woods said. "It was my goal for the season to win the indoor triple jump title, so this is just the greatest feeling."

St. Augustine's was led by Deworski Odom, who won both the 55-meter dash and 55-meter hurdles. It was his second straight title in the hurdles and marked the first time in Division II men's indoor history that a competitor has won both events in the same championship.

"It feels really great to sweep both events," Odom said. "I now need to start looking toward the outdoor season and training for the next level."

Meet records were set in two events. Texas A&M-Kingsville's Matt Hickl cleared 18 feet, 1 inch in the pole vault, breaking the previous mark of 18 feet, 1/4 inch by Dustin DeRosier of St. Cloud State in 1997.

South Dakota's Nic Burrow won the mile run in 4 minutes, 3.71 seconds, trimming just over a second off the mark of 4 minutes, 4.76 seconds established by Abilene Christian's Musa Gwanzura last year.