2019 NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field Championships:
Digital Program | Live Results

KINGSVILLE, Texas -- Eileen Stressling pushed her All-America count into double digits Thursday on the opening day of the three-day NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field National Championships hosted by Texas A&M-Kingsville.

Stressling is one of 11 athletes from Azusa Pacific competing at the outdoor national championships, and she claimed sixth place in Thursday's 10,000 meters to earn her 10th career NCAA Division II All-American honor. A four-time national qualifier in the 10,000, Stressling repeated as All-American in the event with her sixth-place finish in a time of 38:02.76, and she has a chance to pick up two All-American honors in the same outdoor championship meet for the first time in her career when she runs in Saturday's 5,000 meter final.

Joining Stressling with 2019 All-American honors was freshman Chinenye Agina, who tied for eighth in the women's high jump in her first outdoor championship meet. Agina cleared 1.69 meters (5-feet, 6 ½-inches) on her second attempt before exiting the competition with three misses at 1.73 meters (5-feet, 8-inches). That bar claimed eight of the 21 athletes in the competition, and Agina emerged from the grouping as an All-American based on a total jumps tiebreaker.

With scoring performances from Stressling and Agina, Azusa Pacific currently sits in 27th place in the team standings with 3.5 points heading into the final day of competition.

Others In Action (Thursday): Mechaela Hyacinth and Jazmine Robertson ran in the same qualifying heat of the women's 100 meter dash, and Hyacinth finished second in the heat with a time of 11.63 seconds to earn a spot in Saturday's 100-meter finals. Robertson finished seventh in the heat, clocking a time of 11.85 to finish 19th among the 23 qualifiers.

In the men's long jump, Jermel Jones jumped 7.28 meters (23-feet, 10 ¾-inches) on his opening attempt, and that mark held as his best leap of the competition in a 17th-place finish in his first national championship meet.

Chad Ponciano, who earned his qualification to the national championships on the final weekend of the qualifying window, registered a Day 1 score of 3,377 points to put himself in seventh at the halfway point of the grueling 10-event competition. He posted season-bests in the first two events, running the 100 meters in 11.63 seconds while notching a long jump mark of 6.67 meters (21-feet, 10 ¾-inches).

Others In Action (Friday): Ponciano opened Day 2 of the decathlon with another season-best, recording a time of 15.52 in the 110-meter hurdles. Nine others finished ahead of him, though, dropping him out of the top-10 through the final four events. He finished among the top-10 in three of the final four events, however, finishing sixth in discus, seventh in pole vault, and ninth in the 1,500 meters.

Andy Hurtado recorded his best throw in the discus competition with his opener, tossing it 52.16 meters (171-feet, 1-inch). He wasn't able to improve on his second or third throws, however, and his best mark ended up just one foot away from the finals qualification, forcing Hurtado to settle for an 11th-place overall finish.

Elle Alexander also threw the discus, posting a 12th-place finish while also recording her best mark on her opening throw of 46.89 meters (153-feet, 10-inches). Jazmine Robertson also returned to the track for 200-meter qualifying, and she improved from the 20th-fastest qualifying time to finish 14th with a time of 24.60.

What's Next: Five Cougars are in action on the final day of championship competition Saturday, starting with a pair of athletes (Amanda Fassold, Sara Wagenveld) in the women's pole vault at 2:30 p.m. (Central). Raymon Harper represents the only remaining scoring opportunity for the men's team when he competes in the men's high jump at 5:30 p.m. (Central), and Azusa Pacific concludes its 2019 season with two more women's events on the track. Mechaela Hyacinth races in the 100 meter dash at 6:35 p.m. (Central), and Eileen Stressling wraps up the meet in the women's 5,000 meters at 8:05 p.m. (Central)