The Azusa Pacific women's track & field became the first Cougar program to win an NCAA national championship, as head coach Jack Hoyt and his team finished on top of the standings on Saturday evening after three days of competition in Michigan. On the third and final day, the Cougars were able to secure the title with three individual national champions and a total of six All-American scoring performances. 

Azusa Pacific entered Saturday with a one point lead over host Grand Valley State (33-32), and both teams had scoring opportunities with athletes in seven events. The Cougars were faced with some adversity right away in the first event of the day, as their 4x100 relay team was disqualified while the Lakers took first for 10 points that allowed them to jump ahead by nine points (42-33). 

The next event was the 1500 meters, in which Grand Valley State had two athletes place third and fourth, while the Cougars did not have any participants. The Lakers' strong performance in the event added 11 points to the team total and their lead grew to 53-33. Jaylah Walker responded for the Cougars, as the decorated veteran was the runner-up in the 100 hurdles with a personal-record time of 13.47, which tallied eight points for Azusa Pacific (53-41). 

Following the 100 hurdles was the 400 meters, an event that was won by Grand Valley State's Nicole Sreenan that added 10 more points for the Lakers (63-41). 

The Cougars then made their big move to get right back into title contention and eventually regain the lead, with Mechaela Hyacinth (100 meters), Chin Agina (high jump), and Jaylah Walker (400 hurdles) each becoming the national champion in their respective events. Hyacinth won the 100 with a time of 11.67, which was .2 seconds faster than the second place finisher. For Agina and Walker, their individual titles were claimed with career-best performances. Agina was a perfect 6-for-6 to open her competition, as she started at a height of 1.65m (5' 5"), and eventually won the competition at 1.82m (5' 11 ½") when she cleared on her first attempt but her lone-remaining opponent, Marissa Gwinner (Tiffin), missed all three of her tries. While Agina had secured the national title and 10 points, she had her sights set on a new career-record with the bar moving up to 1.85m (6' ¾"), as her previous PR was 1.84m (6' ½"). She was unsuccessful on her first two attempts, but on her third and final try, she cleared the bar and put the final exclamation on an outstanding season. The leap placed her 11th all-time in NCAA Division II history.

With 10 points apiece from Hyacinth and Agina, the Cougars were right behind Grand Valley State by a 64-61 score when it was time for the 400 hurdles. From the moment the gun went off, Walker was locked in and showed why she entered the week as the national leader in the event. She flew past the competition and ultimately crossed the finish line with an incredible time of 57.29. Not only did it break her own school record by nearly a second, but it was the ninth-fastest race in Division II history. Walker's all-time performance gave the Cougars a 71-66 lead in the standings, as the Laker's Jessica Eby scored two points with a seventh-place finish in the race.

The next event on the track was the 200 meters, which included Hyacinth in lane No. 4. In desperate need of each and every point possible, the Cougars were able to pick up five points from her with a fourth-place finish on a personal-best time of 23.55. Her second All-American worthy race of the day pushed Azusa Pacific's lead up to 76-66 with two events remaining.

The final event that included a Cougar was the 5K, where Jenny Sandoval was running in a field of 17 competitors that included three who donned a Grand Valley State uniform. Outnumbered in the race, Sandoval needed to finish as high as possible to prevent the trio of Laker runners from picking up the necessary points to overtake the Cougars in the standings. The veteran ultimately delivered for Azusa Pacific, as she held fourth place for the entirety of the final 2,000 meters, and she ran the fastest final lap of any competitor at 1:07.30 to score five points for the team. 

Entering the last event of the Championships, the 4x400 relay, Azusa Pacific held a 81-72 advantage. Without a team in the relay, the Cougars could only wait and watch as Grand Valley State still had a chance to claim the national title, as first place finish in the event would be worth 10 points. While the Azusa Pacific faithful were certainly on edge prior to the start of the relay, it became clear relatively quickly that the Lakers' quartet would not be the first across the line. Grand Valley State finished fourth, and the Cougars' celebration ensued. 

MEET SCORING BREAKDOWN (All-Americans):

18 points - Jaylah Walker (10 points - 1st - 400 hurdles | 8 points - 2nd - 100 hurdles)

15 points - Mechaela Hyacinth (10 points - 1st - 100 meters | 5 points - 4th - 200 meters)

13 points - Jenny Sandoval (8 points - 2nd - 10K | 5 points - 4th - 5K)

10 points - Chin Agina (10 points - 1st - high jump)

9 points - Nicole Warwick (6 points - 3rd - heptathlon | 3 points - 6th - long jump)

9 points - Elle Alexander (8 points - 2nd - discus | 1 point - 8th - hammer)

5 points - Meagan Warwick (5 points - 4th - heptathlon)

2 points - Jordan Hammond (2 points - 7th - heptathlon)

The Cougars' national title is the fifth in program history (four-time NAIA National Champions - 2003, 2004, 2007, 2010), the first NCAA national championship for any Azusa Pacific Athletics program, and the second time that a PacWest school has won the women's track & field crown. Hoyt's nine All-Americans this season is double the amount of any of the previous NCAA seasons, and the Cougars' three individual national champions are the most since 2015.

On the men's side, Daniel Bessolo closed out his first NCAA Outdoors appearance with an All-American performance in the 400 meters, where he took fourth-place with a time of 46.95. The men's team finished with a total of seven points from an All-American performance from each of their qualifiers:

Daniel Bessolo - 4th - 400 Meters - 46.95 - 5 points

Jermel Jones II - 8th - Long Jump - 24' 1 ¾" - 1 point

Lincoln Krog - 8th - Decathlon - 6,767 points

To read the recaps from the previous two days, visit the links below. To view the final results of the Championships, click here.

DAY ONE RECAP

DAY TWO RECAP