Oklahoma Baptist, winners of three national track and field national championships since 2005, set off to defend its latest national championship - the men's outdoor title - with action beginning Thursday.

The OBU men just missed claiming the 2008 indoor national title by three-quarters of a point in March, losing by a heartbeat to Azusa Pacific. Last year in the outdoor championships, the Bison ended Dickinson State's three-year run of national championships.

Twenty-two Bison and 17 Lady Bison boarded a bus Monday to head north to the meet in St. Louis, with some training stops along the way.