"The conference meet this weekend looks to be one of the closest competitions in recent years," comments NNU coach John Spatz.  "We are hopeful that our performances will come close to what we did during the indoor season where we earned 15 all conference honors and five conference titles.  We have some quality individuals on the men's side that should earn conference honors and perhaps a title or two."

"The women's team should be in the top three teams and represents perhaps one of the best women's team in track in school history," Spatz added.  "The women have won serveral meets this year and have a sense of purpose going into the weekend. If we are able to come away with some top three finishes and see a few more national qualifiers this weekend then I feel like we will have had some success."

John Riak of Saint Martin's in the 10,000 and Greg Hamm of Northwest Nazarene in the triple jump will each be gunning for their third straight victories. Hamm is one of only two athletes in GNAC to win three consecutative titles indoor and will look to add to that collection this weekend. Currently ranked 18th in the NCAA II national triple jump rankings, Hamm will look to move up the rankings ladder and secure a spot in the national outdoor meet.

The NNU men have four ranked in the top three in their events this weekend. Hamm is the conference leader in the triple jump. Zach Barclay goes into the weekend ranked 3rd in the Shot Put, 5th in the Hammer, and 11th in the Discus. The indoor conference champion in the shot, he could score points in all three disciplines.  Grant Miller is ranked 3rd in the discus, 5th in the Shot and 4th in the Hammer. Miller is a serious threat to finish in the top three in each event.

Eric Zwiefelhofer in the only other crusader to be ranked in the top three, and is ranked 3rd in the javelin.
Eric will look to hit an NCAA D.II qualifier in the event and a possible birth to the national meet.

On the womens side, depth in the field events combined with outstanding performers in events from the 100m through the 10K will push the Crusader women's team into the weekend.

Freshman Latoya Tidwell goes into the championships ranked 1st in the 200, 4th in the 100 and with hopes of leading the 4 x 100 relay to a conference title and a possible school record in the event. The school record in the 4 x 100 was set in 1982 by Bohannon, Blythe, Galloway, and Johnson at 48.75.

Tidwell will team up with Nichole Schutte who is ranked 2nd in the 100 and 2nd in the 200, Lindsay Brady who is ranked 2nd in the 400 and Kim Berberick for a run at the record.

NCAA veteran Ashley Puga is ranked 2nd in the 1500, 5th in the 3K, and 4th in the 800 all of which she will run this weekend at the championships. Puga could also see duty on the 4 x 400 relay that hopes to break 4:00 in that event. The school record set in 2006 is 3:58.97. Ashley is currently ranked 15th in the latest NCAA II national rankings. Puga won the conference title in the 1500 two years ago.

Other title hopefuls include Laura Von Arx in the triple jump. Von Arx is ranked 2nd  in the event and is looking for an NCAA qualifying mark of 38' 0.75 in her first year of outdoor eligibility.  Laura is the current school record holder in the event at 37' 4.0" Amy Carroll looks to score points in all three of her throwing events. Carroll is ranked 2nd in the hammer, 4th in the shot, and 4th in the discus. Carroll won the conference title indoors at 42"7".