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BOSTON, Mass. -- That ninth consecutive NCAA Division II men's track and field title is proving difficult to win. Abilene Christian, bidding for its ninth straight NCAA Division II men's track title dating back to the 2002 indoor meet, was upset by St. Augustine's, N.C., here Saturday. The Wildcats got a win from distance ace Nicodemus Naimadu and four runner-up finishes, but they scored only 55 points to 66.5 for the champions from Raleigh, N.C., here at Reggie Lewis Center. The ACU women, who also got one victory (from vaulter Angie Aguilar), finished a distant second to Lincoln, Mo. It was the second straight runner-up finish by the ACU women and fourth in the last six years at the NCAA Division II indoor meet. Lincoln, also the 2005 outdoor winner in Abilene, topped ACU, 87-50.3, in the final women's standings. The ACU men won their eighth straight NCAA track trophy at the 2005 outdoor meet in Abilene to continue a streak that started at the 2002 indoor meet. ACU's streak of eight indoor and outdoor titles in 2002-05 matched an earlier streak of eight won by St. Augustine's, N.C., in 1989-92, but ended at the 1993 indoor meet by Abilene Christian. Naimadu easily captured the 5,000 meters here in 14:07.55 for his sixth NCAA individual national title, but he was upset in the mile by Adams State, Colo., junior Aucencio Martinez. Martinez ran 4:07.44 to edge the ACU junior, who ran 4:07.77. Earlier in the week, Naimadu was named the NCAA Division II men's indoor track and field athlete of the year. Naimadu led during the early laps of the mile, but Martinez sprinted to the front in the final 30 meters to overtake the Wildcat junior. "Nicodemus was a warrior this weekend," ACU first-year coach Don D. Hood said. "He ran four races and a total of 6.1 miles. He's not really a miler. The 5,000 is his race. You couldn't ask any more of him."
The Wildcats' other three runner-up finishes came from Hood's two relay teams and Yevgen Pashchenko in the triple jump. Pashchenko leaped 51-7.25, but he was well back of Lincoln freshman Wilbert Walker, who became the first athlete to triple jump 54 meet at the national indoor meet. He set a meet record with 54-0.5. Saturday the Wildcats ran 3:12.59 to trail St. Augustine's in the 1,600 relay. The Falcons won with 3:12.26. Friday the Wildcats were second to Adams State in the distance medley with Naimadu on the anchor. Montez Pride, Jordan Johnson and Elton Garus-Oab ran the first three 400s for Hood on ACU's 1600 to pull the Wildcats into second behind St. Augustine's, but Delt Cockrell on the anchor narrowly failed to overtake the Falcon's Jamaal Torrance at the finish line. "St. Augustine's just didn't mess up enough for us to beat them," Hood added. "We just couldn't catch them after they scored in the 200 and hurdles (a win in the 200 for 10 points, and 17 points from three finalists in the 60 hurdles)."
Pashchenko and teammate Vladyslav Gorbenko came through with 14 points on a 2-3 finish in the triple jump, and Pashchenko was also sixth in the long jump Friday. ACU's other points Saturday in the men's division came from Montez Pride with sixth in the 400 (48.26) for three points and Marvin Bien-Aime with eighth in the 200 (21.77) for one point. Bien-Aime was the 2005 outdoor champion in the 200 and runner-up here last year as a sophomore, but he drew the inside lane Saturday on the tight indoor track and never challenged the leaders. Adams State was third in the men's division with 45 points, just ahead of Lincoln (44). Aguilar, junior from Midland Christian, became ACU's fourth national champion in the women's pole vault in NCAA Division II. She sailed over 12-11.5 on her first attempt to take the victory over 2005 outdoor champ Chaunte Mitchell of CSU-Stanislaus, who made 12-7.5 Saturday but missed three times at 12-11.5. It took Aguilar three attempts to make 12-3.5 to remain in the competition, then she missed three times at 13-2.25 to end the event. "Angie pulled through for us," Hood said. "She's a great competitor. She deserved to win. She was the best vaulter there."
ACU's earlier women's vault champions were Jane McNeil, Meredith Garner and Katie Eckley. The Wildcat women edged St. Augustine's, 50.3-49, in the battle for second behind Lincoln with Adams State fourth at 45 and Grand Valley State fifth with 25.5. Hood got 16 points from distance runners Trina Cox and Olha Kryv'yak, and both relay teams finished third. The 1600 relay was third Saturday in 3:45.14 (St. Augustine's won in 3:43.09) following the distance medley relay team's third on Friday. Cox and Kryv'yak were 5-6 in the mile, and then in the 5,000 Kryv'yak ran ahead of Cox for a 4-5 finish. "Trina and Olha did a tremendous job," Hood added. "They ran as many races as Nicodemus and scored as many points." ACU's other women's points Saturday came in the sprints. Jessica Hunt ran 25.06 for eighth in the 200 behind a meet record 24.12 by Lincoln's Davita Pendergast. Keva Wilkins ran 55.33 for fourth in the 400 behind the winning 53.67 by the Falcons' Johnsie Liles, a Texan who also won the 2005 outdoor title in Abilene as a freshman.
On Friday, ACU freshman Jessica Withrow tied for second in the high jump.
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