AU junior Ainsley Richards led the Spartans to a third place finish in the 2012 Northern Athletics Conference Indoor Championships as she captured two meet titles and was named the Field Athlete of the Meet for the
Richards won the long jump (5.22 meters) and triple jump (10.00 meters) which gave the Spartans 20 of their 103 total meet points. Sophomore Samantha Owens joined Richards as the other Spartan to win an event title when her 11.29 meter throw in the shot put gave her the conference title. Owens finished second in the weight throw (13.34 meters) for 19 points in the meet.

All together, including the performances by Richards and Owens, AU had 13 individuals and two relay teams score points. Freshman Loretta Johnson had a team high three top-8 finishes with a fourth-place in the 200 meter dash (27.55), fifth-place finish in the 55 meter dash (7.79) and sixth in the 400 meter dash (1:03.74).

Spartans scoring in the NAC meet were

(fifth in the 800 meter run and seventh in the mile run), Deviin Mabry (third in the shot put), Sarah Murphy (fourth in the shot put), Kaylee Swearingen (fourth in th 55 meter hurdles), Courtney Roberts (fourth in the 55 meter dash), Erin Blackburn (fifth in the 55 meter hurdles), Priscilla Thermidor (fifth in the weight throw), Shandi Hammer (seventh in the shot put)

The distance medley relay team (Briana Deckard, Ashley Mayer, Abby Hart and Bri Carter) finished fourth while the 4x400 meter relay team (Ariana Espino, Monigold, Johnson and Paller) finished sixth.

Next action for the Spartan indoor track and field team comes on Friday, March 2 when they compete in the North Central College "Last Chance" meet. Meet time is set for 5:00 p.m. in Naperville, Ill.