WICHITA, KS - The Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference (KCAC) 2009 Track & Field Championships will be held on the campus of McPherson College on Friday and Saturday, May 1^st and 2^nd.

Action will begin at 2:00 p.m. on Friday with field event finals in the women's high jump and discus, and the men's long jump and javelin. Scheduled to begin at 4:00 p.m. on Friday will be the finals in women's long jump and javelin along with the men's high jump and discus.

Friday events on the track will begin at 5:00 p.m., with preliminaries in the women's 100-meter hurdles, men's 110-meter hurdles, women's and men's 400 meters, 100 meters, 400-meter hurdles, and 200-meter dash. Track event finals scheduled for Friday will be the women's and then men's 4x800-meter relays, scheduled for 6:05 and 6:20 p.m., and the final three events of the evening, the women's 5,000 meters (7:20), men's 5,000 meters (7:45), and a combined women's and men's 10,000-meter run (8:05 p.m.).

Saturday's events will begin at 1:00 p.m. with the finals in women's pole vault and shot put, and the men's triple jump and hammer throw. The finals in the women's pole vault is set for 2:00 p.m., with the last session of field event finals which will include the women's triple jump and hammer throw, and the men's shot put, scheduled to begin at 3:00 p.m.

All of Saturday's track events, beginning at 5:00 p.m., will be finals.

The two-day championships will conclude with awarding of the team championship, and announcement of the most valuable athletes and coach of the year awards, at approximately 8:20 p.m.

Southwestern College is the defending team champion in both the men's and women's divisions. The Moundbuilder men have won the last 26 team championships, dating back through1983 while the Lady Moundbuilders have won the last 16 KCAC titles. The last non-Southwestern team champions to take home the conference team trophies were Bethany's men in 1982 and Sterling's women in 1992.

Nine individual champions from the 2008 KCAC Championships are scheduled to return with the opportunity to defend their 2008 title. They include:

800m Run - Aric Cherry (Southwestern) also won in 2006

3km Steeplechase - Zack Conroy (Southwestern)

110m Hurdles - Chris Morr (Sterling)

400m Hurdles - Andrew Schroter (Tabor)

Pole Vault - Silas Hibbs (Tabor)

Discus Throw - Jared Bahret (Bethel)

Hammer Throw - Alex Hutchins (Southwestern)

10,000m Run - Annette Gingerich (Bethel)

Shot Put - Jessica Becker (Bethany) also won in 2005

Discus Throw - Jessica Becker (Bethany) also won in 2006

Friends University is the defending champion in the women's 4x100m relay, having broken Southwestern's seven-year win streak, while the Southwestern men will be attempting to win the men's short relay title for a sixth straight year.

Southwestern is the two-time defending champion in men's 4x400 baton event while Friends won the women's title in 2008, breaking Southwestern's string of 15 consecutive titles.

Tabor won its second women's 4x800 crown in the last three years in 2008 while Southwestern's men extended their 4x800 meters winning streak to seven years. Overall, the Moundbuilder men have won the conference title for the 4x800 10 of the 11 years the event has been contested at the conference championships.

The longest current winning streaks by a single team in an individual event at the KCAC Championships goes to Southwestern whose men have won 19 straight titles in the men's 10,000 meters. Overall, the Builder men have won 25 of the last 26 titles at that distance, a string broken only by McPherson's Jack Patino in 1989. The Moundbuilder men also currently have a10-year winning streak in the 3,000m steeplechase.

Friends University has won five straight women's pole vault titles while Bethany has won five consecutive women's javelin crowns.

Bethel's men have won the javelin title the past four years, the longest current winning streak by a men's team in a field event.

As the conference teams head into the final tune-up weekend for the KCAC meet, conference athletes have posted 37 automatic and/or provisional qualifying marks for the NAIA National Championships which will be held May 21-23 at Ralph Korte Stadium in Edwardsville, Illinois.

Currently ranked among the NAIA's top five nationally are:

Bethany's Jessica Becker in the shot put (1^st, 50'4½")

Southwestern's men 4x800 (3^rd, 7:39.54) and Paige Carswell in the triple jump (4^th, 38'6¾")

Bethel's Garrett Hiebert in the javelin (3^rd, 210'5")

McPherson's Antowine Lamb in the high jump (5^th, 6'9½") 

Complete results following each day's competition will be posted at www.kcacsports.com

For the 2009 KCAC Men's and Women's Track and Field Championship Schedule please click here.

For KCAC Men's and Women's Track and Field Records please click here.