The 59^th Annual Men's and 30^th Annual Women's National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Outdoor Track and Field National Championships will take place from May 27-29 in Marion, Indiana. The Briar Cliff track team, coached by Nate Treinen, has sent seven individuals (including an alternate) to the event, which will be hosted by Indiana Wesleyan University and held at the Outdoor Sports Complex on the IWU campus.

The championships will begin with the men's decathlon and women's heptathlon tomorrow morning at 10 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. CDT, respectively. The women's hammer throw (including Briar Cliff senior Ashley Sparks) heads the field events at 10 a.m. and the women's 4x100m trials kick-off the track events at 1:30 p.m. Opening Ceremonies start at 4:45 p.m., tomorrow and the awards ceremony wraps up the events at 6:30 p.m., Saturday.

Sparks owns the school record in the hammer throw (48.19m) and enters the competition ranked 20th in the nation. She competed at indoor nationals earlier this year in the weight throw. Indoor all-American Sam Acheampong headlines the Chargers' male contingent. The sophomore is ranked seventh in the nation with a season-best, school-record time of 10.54 in the 100m dash. He was second in the event at this year's GPAC Outdoor Track and Field Championships. The Chargers' 4x100m relay team of Acheampong, junior Erik Lindsay and sophomores Cecil Milton and Cody Spreeman will take the track at 1:30 p.m., tomorrow. For Acheampong, Lindsay and Milton, this is their second-straight trip to run the 4x100m at the outdoor national meet. Last season, they finished fifth in their preliminary heat with a 42.18. This year, the Chargers clocked a school record 41.73 at the Doane Tune-Up, May 14, finished second in the GPAC and are seeded 18^th overall. Junior Jon Smith will make the trip as an alternate. Lindsay finished second in the conference and is ranked 17^th in the nation going into nationals with a time of 14.75 in the 110m hurdles. Lindsay is a two-time outdoor national qualifier in the 110m hurdles and a three-time indoor national qualifier in the 60m hurdles. At last year's outdoor meet, he finished fifth in his semi-final heat. He is the school's record holder in the event, clocking a 14.60, last season. Lindsay will run at 2:40 p.m., tomorrow, in the 110m trials, while Acheampong will take the track at 3:50 p.m. The semifinals of each event will take place on Friday afternoon as well as the finals of the 100m dash and 110m hurdles. The finals of the men's 4x100m will be at 2:50 p.m., Saturday. Freshman Clay Pagels will also compete for the Chargers. Pagels, who set the school record in the high jump in his first year with the program, clearing 6-08.25, will compete in the finals of the high jump at 6 p.m., Friday. Pagels is seeded 18^th.

The Championships will feature over 1,400 student-athletes on 241 teams from across the U.S. and Canada competing in 48 different events contested over three days. There are 125 men's teams and 116 women's teams participating. Two-time defending men's national champion Azusa Pacific (Calif.) is gunning for its third straight title and 16^th overall, most in NAIA history. On the women's side, two-time defending national champion Wayland Baptist (Texas) will look for its own three-peat.

The entire 2010 NAIA Men's and Women's Outdoor Track and Field National Championships will be streamed online. You can catch all of the track and field action for free by clicking here and selecting one of three different camera feeds. For more information on the championships | click here,
to view the schedule of events | click here.