Final results
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The ACU Wildcats have experienced some glorious championship moments in the storied history of their dynastic track and field program.
None have been more unlikely, however, than what the "Fab Four" were able to accomplish Saturday night at the NCAA Division II indoor national championship meet at the Albuquerque Convention Center.
Seniors
Amos Sang,
Desmond Jackson and
Ramon Sparks and redshirt junior
Nick Jones scored 49 points between them – all on Saturday's final day of competition – to lead the Wildcats to the most unlikely national championship in the history of one of the most legendary collegiate track and field programs in the country, regardless of division.
ACU finished with 49 points, while Ashland (Ohio) – which qualified 22 student-athletes for the meet – was second with 42 points. Lincoln (Mo.) finished third with 41 points.
"When we had our team meeting (Saturday morning), we told those guys that the most we could score was 60 points, so let's go for 60 and see what happens," said ACU head coach Roosevelt Lofton, who won his first national championship to become the sixth ACU head coach to lead a Wildcat team to a national championship. "They put it out there and what they did was enough to win a championship. I'm so proud of each of those four guys for laying it on the line."
ACU, which began the day without a single point to its credit, got off to a flying start when Sparks won the triple jump and Jones finished fourth in the shot put. Sparks took an early lead when he threw out a career indoor-best mark of 53 feet even on his second attempt of the day.
No one came within 18 inches of that mark during the final four rounds of the competition and Sparks had ACU on the board with 10 big points. While Sparks was working on his second straight indoor national championship, Jones was busy putting together a career-best afternoon in the shot put ring.
Jones topped his previous career-best indoor mark of 58-11.25 three times, including his mark of 59-10.50 on his third throw, which was good enough for fourth place and five big points toward the national championship.
"The day's excitement really got started early because Ramon was jumping at the same time Nick was throwing, and they kind of fed off of each other," Lofton said. "Then when Ramon threw that 53-footer out there, everyone knew it was over at that point."
Now armed with their 15 points, the Wildcats turned to the track for the rest of the day's action, and Jackson and Sang didn't let them down.
Sang – who won the 5000 meters and 10,000 meters at last year's NCAA Division II outdoor championship meet – went back to work at the indoor meet, finishing a close second in the mile, finishing in 4:08.96 for eight more points.
The Wildcats then turned to Jackson to keep their title hopes alive and he didn't disappoint. Jackson narrowly lost to Lincoln senior Kimour Bruce, who won the 60 meter national title in 6.62, while Jackson finished second in 6.64 seconds.
Just about one hour after finishing the 60 meters, Jackson hit the blocks for the 200 meters and won the first of two heats with a time of 21.03. But Lincoln junior Terrel Cotton turned in a time of 20.94 in the second heat to win the national championship and relegate Jackson to another second-place finish.
However, those eight points were enough to push the Wildcats into the team lead with 39 points to 38 for Lincoln with only two races – the 5000 meters and the 4x400 relay – remaining.
"My assistant coaches ran up to me after the 200 meters and told me that if Amos won the 5000 meters that we would clinch the championship," Lofton said. "I said, 'What!' But we looked at it a couple of more times to make sure that we were adding it up right, and then we just left it up to Amos."
And as he has done since last year, Sang came through, delivering the championship with a four-second win in the 5000 meters. Sang covered the track in 14:37.08, topping Shippensburg senior Bryan Beegle (14:41.54) by more than four seconds to give ACU 10 title-clinching points.
Sang's title gave ACU 49 points and an insurmountable 11-point lead over Lincoln (Mo.), which was in second after the 15th event with 38 points. Ashland would finish fourth in the relay to finish second with 42 points, while Lincoln mailed it in and finished sixth for three points and a third-place finish with 41 points.
The championship is ACU's first indoor national championship since 2005 and first national championship of any kind since it won the 2008 outdoor national championship. ACU – the first program in NCAA Division II history to win 13 indoor national championships – has now won 63 overall national championships in school history with 58 of those coming in track and field. The Wildcats have won 53 NCAA track and field titles, the most titles in one sport by any school in NCAA history.
"When I got this job, I wanted to try and continue the championship tradition, and we were able to do that (Saturday)," Lofton said. "I've been in and around track and field my whole life and I've never seen anything like this. It's a great feeling."
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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The ACU women's track and field team sent just one representative to the NCAA Division II indoor championship meet, but sophomore transfer Amanda Ouedraogo made the most of her first championship event as a Wildcat.
Ouedraogo finished a strong second in the women's triple jump Saturday, jumping 41-10 to finish behind Nebraska-Omaha senior Nkeiruka Domike, who set a meet record with a winning jump of 43-11.75. Domike's jump tops the old record of 43-6 set in 2007 by Kwonya Ferguson of St. Augustine's.
Grand Valley State (Mich.) ran away with the women's team championship, scoring 83 points to 51 for runner-up Lincoln (Mo.) and 37 for third-place Adams State (Colo.). ACU posted the worst finish in women's program history as Ouedraogo's second-place finish was good for eight points and a tie for 22nd place.
