JACKSONVILLE, Ill. - Freshman hurdler Christian Awah of Willow Springs, Ill., provisionally qualified for the NAIA Championships and the Ashford University men's track and field team sustained its onslaught on the school record books at the Illinois College Snowbird Open on Saturday.

The Saints put together a strong performance to place third with a total of 70 points as junior Andrew Drinkall of Hooppole, Ill., and sophomore A.J. Smith of Port Byron, Ill., grabbed wins in the 800-meter dash and high jump, respectively.

Freshmen Aleksander Jakobsen of Rock Island, Ill., and Julius Oteng of Kumasi, Ghana, completed the school's first racewalk event, a 3,000-meter distance, sophomore Austin Gilbert of Peoria, Ill., streaked his way to a new record in the 200-meter dash and the 4x400-relay unit that included Gilbert and Awah set a new school mark in 3:30.77.

Ashford competed among a 16-team field in its fourth event of the indoor season.

"With 14 other teams competing this weekend, both teams responded well to the length of the meet," AU Track and Field Head Coach Chris Adams said. "Meet length is something that can wear on athletes, especially the freshmen. In fact, Illinois College hosted two basketball games during the meet. So it can be difficult to stay focused for that amount of time if you are competing in multiple events that are hours apart."

Awah became the fourth Saint to qualify for the NAIA Indoor National Championships in Johnson City, Tenn., making his provisional mark in the 55-meter hurdles. He was .01 away from qualifying in his last event at the Sol Butler Classic in Dubuque.

"After an early ankle injury, Christian is now beginning to effectively grasp the height change of the hurdles," Adams said.

Awah now joins Spencer Touchie (shot put) of Hometown, Ill., Smith (high jump) and Heather Ketcham (high jump) of Byron, Ill., to punch their ticket to the national meet.

Gilbert broke a longstanding decade-long record previously held by Cranston Stirrup in 1999, crossing the line in 22.80 seconds. He also came through with a fifth-place effort in the 400-meter dash to contribute a team-high 12 points towards the final scores.

Smith grabbed another high jump victory, his third consecutive, clearing 1.96m. He commented on his progress through the season to date.

"I've had a lot of fun so far this year and the best is yet to come," Smith said. "This meet was probably the most exciting one for me so far because I almost hit 6'8", but I also had a jump-off against my competitor. We were cheering each other on, which I think is the best part of track and field."

"A.J. continues to have a very good indoor season," Adams added. "It wouldn't surprise me if he made the "A" standard in the next couple of weeks."

Drinkall continued his strong indoor campaign with a near three-second victory in the 800-meter run. He finished in 1:59.04, while the next closest finisher, Matt Rickard (Washington University) came in at 2:02.02.

Touchie didn't compete for the second straight meet as a precaution from a tweaked knee suffered during practice a while back.

The Saints continue the indoor season in Cedar Falls on Friday and Saturday, heading to the Jack Jennett Invitational.