Athletics Headlines: Women's Track Wins NAIA Outdoor National Title

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May 28, 2006

Women's Track Wins NAIA Outdoor National Title

FRESNO, Calif. - Led by sophomore Nickesha Anderson, Missouri Baptist used a sweep of the sprints to literally run away and win the 26th Annual NAIA Women's Outdoor Track & Field Championship Meet at Fresno Pacific University. The Spartans scored 126 points to claim their first-ever outdoor championship and in the process become the sixth school to sweep the NAIA women's indoor and outdoor titles in the same season.

Azusa Pacific (CA) finished second with 79 points, followed by Simon Fraser (B.C.) in third with 74 and Oklahoma Baptist in fourth with 66. Florida Memorial rounded out the top five with 51 points.

For the second straight year, Anderson won the 100- (11.41), 200- (23.86) and 400-meter (54.53) races and then anchored the Spartans to victory in the 4x100 relay (45.87) and a second-place finish in the 4x400 relay (3:49.50). She becomes the first person NAIA history to sweep the individual sprints and then anchor a sprint relay victory. For her efforts, Anderson was named the Herbert B. Marett Outstanding Performer of the Meet.

"Nickesha is the foundation of our program," said Missouri Baptist head coach Vince Bingham, who was named NAIA Women's Outdoor Track & Field National Coach of the Year. "She has brought us from rags to riches. No one had ever won the 100, 200 and 400 at a major meet, and now she has done it twice. She had a great week."

Missouri Baptist scored 51 points in the sprints alone with Anderson having a hand in 48 of them. The Spartans were rather strong in the distances too. Freshman Betty Rotich, who won the 10,000 meters Thursday night, came back this afternoon to take the 5000 meters in rather convincing fashion with a 16:48.07, finishing nearly 40 seconds ahead of second-place finisher Petrana Petkova of Goshen.

"This was the goal, to win both the indoor and outdoor championships," added Bingham. "We thought we could win the outdoor title last year but we didn't. The girls wore that all year and lived the dream 365 of winning outdoors this year. They felt they had unfinished business."

*This article was taken from the naia website. For individual results and team scores please visit www.naia.org.