Saturday, April 23, 2005 - FPU at the GSAC Championship
Team finished unexpected third; Schwab honored

Azusa - Powered by a 1-2-3 sweep in the hammer throw the Fresno Pacific University Sunbirds finished with 141.5 points and an unexpected third place finish in the Golden State Athletic Track & Field Championship in Azusa today.

That did not escape the notice of the GSAC head coaches as they selected FPU's Eric Schwab as the 2005 GSAC Men's Track Coach of the Year.

"This was so unexpected," said Schwab of both his team's high finish and his coach of the year award. "The kids did a great job. They did all of the work. I am not sure how this happened but I think they pulled a rabbit out of the hat today."

FPU had three champions over the two-day championship. Shlomi Ben-Shushan repeated as the hammer champion (181-07), Nick Allen won the triple jump (43-01.75), while Eric Norcross, who joined the team at the conclusion of basketball season, won the high jump (6-05).

Allen had an outstanding meet. In addition to his win in the triple jump, Allen finished second in the long jump (with a personal record 23-00.50), fourth in the javelin (168-10) and filled in for Jerome Brown (leg injury) on both the Sunbirds 4x100 and 4x400 relay teams.

Mario Ordaz (144-01) and Harley Benedict (142-05) followed Ben-Shushan in the hammer.

Host Azusa Pacific claimed the championship with 216 points, Point Loma Nazarene finished second with 145.5 points.

Friday, April 22, 2005 - FPU at the GSAC Championship

Azusa - The FPU best performance of the first day of competition at the Golden State Athletic Conference Track and Field Championship came in the long jump. Nick Allen (23-00.50) and Jeff Bogdanof (22-01.75) finished 2-3 while both recording season best marks

Senior sprinter Jerome Brown advanced to the final of the 100 meters with a season-best 10.80, but had problems in the 200 meters (29.60). His status for Saturday action is doubtful.

Bogdanof also qualified for the finals in both hurdle races. The sophomore won his heat of the 110 highs with a season-best 15.20. It was the third fastest time of the day.

FPU scored 43.50 points on Friday and stood tied for third place with Point Loma Nazarene. Host Azusa Pacific leads a tight the tightly bunched group with 50 points. Westmont is second with 47. Concordia is fifth with 34.

Saturday's action gets underway at 11:00 p.m. with the hammer throw and concludes with the 4x400 meter relay at 4:10 p.m..

Friday, April 22, 2005 - FPU at the GSAC Championship
The 2005 Golden State Athletic Conference Track and Field Championship gets underway this morning at 11:00 a.m. with the pole vault competition. The final event of the first day of competition is the men's 10,000 meter run scheduled to begin at 8:00 p.m.

The championship is hosted by Azusa Pacific University.