Gainesville, FL – On Friday evening in Gainesville, FL, junior Long Jumper Mikhail Browne made ACU history by becoming ACU's first ever NAIA National Champion.

Browne set a program record when he first hit the "A" standard at the Gaucho Indoor meet earlier this month.  His jump of 23' 10" had him ranked 9^th in the NAIA heading into the national meet. 

Browne got off to a strong start by jumping a season best 23' 11" in the preliminary round to enter finals in fourth place.  But after two sup-par jumps, and then great jumps from two other competitors, Browne went into his final jump in sixth place.  In that final jump though, Browne uncorked a new personal best jump of 24' 7.75" and outdistance himself from the next closest jumper by five inches.

Said Head Coach Brian Bell, "We are all very proud of Mike. He was recently baptized and was on a mission this week to compete for God's glory and to make a name for Arizona Christian.  Coach Williams and Mike worked very hard to make this possible and both deserve credit. Roll Storm!"

Competition continues tomorrow as Sophomore Tahaj Acoff will compete in the Shot Put starting at 2:30pm.

Roll Storm!