Office of Public Relations
Missouri Baptist University
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Saint Louis, Missouri 63141-8698
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For Immediate Release
RE: MBU Women’s Track Team Wins National Championship
MBU Women’s Track Team Wins National Championship
May 30, 2006
Led by sophomore Nickesha Anderson, Missouri Baptist University used a sweep of the sprints to literally run away and win the 26th Annual NAIA Women's Outdoor Track & Field Championship Meet May 27 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.
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 became the first person in 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."
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Missouri Baptist University is a premier Christian university in Saint Louis, offering graduate and undergraduate studies in over thirty specialized fields and nine degrees. MBU's education and fine arts programs are nationally known in addition to business, religion, administration of justice, and more. MBU is one of the fastest growing higher education institutions in Missouri with an enrollment of over 4,500 students at five locations in the bi-state region — West County, Lincoln County, Jefferson County, Franklin County and the new Illinois extension at Lewis and Clark Community College.
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