MARION, Ind. - For the second consecutive season, the UBC Thunderbirds men's and women's teams finished in the top 10 at the NAIA Outdoor Track and Field Championship. The 2010 edition featured the best-ever result for the men as they brought home third overall while the women claimed 10th, matching their result from 2009. The men were eighth at last season's championship.
RESULTS"I was extremely happy with our performances all weekend from both teams," said UBC head coach
Marek Jedrzejek. "It was a very big accomplishment for our men to finish on the podium today and our women got a good result with another top 10."
The UBC men jumped out to an early lead in the team competition with three gold medal performances over the first two days of the competition but couldn't hold on during the final day of competition that featured a majority of the finals.
Luc Bruchet and Nigel Hole, however, did add to the 'Birds total on Saturday with strong results in the 1,500 metres.
Bruchet, a standout freshman who also excelled during the fall cross country season, finished fourth (3:49.96), missing the podium by just 0.02 seconds in his first ever NAIA track final. Hole came home in seventh (3:53.06) and the duo's performance added seven points to the T-Bird tally to bring the team's total to 46 for the weekend.
That total was good enough for the squad's best-ever result at the NAIA Championship as they finished behind Wayland Baptist (70) and Dickinson State (51).
Male T-Bird gold medalists from earlier in the week were Curtis Moss (javelin), Reid Gustavson (decathlon), and Inaki Gomez (5,000m race walk).
Freshman Nelly Amenyogbe tallied the lone points for the women on Saturday with a silver medal performance in the grueling marathon. She stopped the clock in three hours, five minutes and 31 seconds to finish second behind Black Hills State's Wendy O'Lexey (2:57.59).
Earlier in the championship, Liz Gleadle claimed her fourth straight gold medal in the women's javelin to cap off an undefeated NAIA career and highlight the T-Bird effort this weekend.
Azusa Pacific won a hotly contested women's competition with 61 points, edging out Oklahoma Baptist by one point and Simon Fraser by five. UBC tallied 30 points during the three-day championship.
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