ASC Track and Field Championships Website
ABILENE, TX - The 2010 American Southwest Conference Track and Field Championships are set for Friday and Saturday (April 23-24) at HSU Track and Field Complex on the campus of Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene, Texas.
The field of teams includes Concordia Texas (men and women), Hardin-Simmons (men and women), McMurry (men and women), Mississippi College (men and women), Sul Ross State (men and women), Texas-Tyler (men and women) and Texas Lutheran (women).
“We’re proud to be hosting and look forward to putting on a quality event with good competition,” HSU Track and Field head coach Rodney Smith said. “If the weather will cooperate, we’ll be in good shape.”
McMurry enters with both defending champions. Head coach Barbara Crousen’s men squad, who won the NCAA Division III national title in 2008 and went on to finish as the national runner-up last season, have won 11 straight ASC titles. They are currently ranked No. 1 in the country by U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association. Crousen’s women have claimed four straight and 10 of the last 11. Texas Lutheran won the women’s title in 2005.
Howard Payne, which no longer sponsors the sport, won the first two ASC men’s crowns in 1997 and 1998. Austin College, which is no longer an ASC member, claimed the first two women’s championships.
Action gets underway Friday at 3 p.m. with the long jump, triple jump, hammer throw and javelin throw, followed by the 3000-meter steeplechase at 4 p.m. and the 10,000-meter run at 5 p.m. The championship meet will then resume Saturday at 9 a.m. with the discus throw and last through the completion of the 4x400-meter relay, which begins at 4:50. The awards presentation is set for 5:45 p.m.
The ASC Championships will feature some athletes and teams with the top NCAA Division III marks in the nation this season. McMurry sophomore Stryker Pena and sophomore Gavan Bass own the top two marks in the long jump at 7.59m and 7.44m, respectively, set at the McMurry Invitational on March 26. Bass also posted the third-best time in the land in the 100-meter dash with a 10.63 at the same meet. On the women’s side, Mississippi College senior Liz Laubenberg has the third-best time in the 400-meter hurdles with a 63.04 set at the MC Twighlight on April 9.
The 2010 NCAA Division III Men’s and Women’s Track and Field Championships will be held from May 27-29 at Tressel Field at Finnie Stadium on the campus of Baldwin-Wallace College in Berea, Ohio. The ASC team and individual champions do not get automatic bids into the national event. Teams and individuals must meet automatic or provisional standards throughout the entire season.