2017 Boston University Last Chance Meet

BOSTON – Making one final trip to the East Coast for opportunities to qualify for the NCAA Division II Indoor National Championships, Academy of Art University track & field turned in numerous impressive performances at the Boston University Last Chance Meet on Sunday. Among highlights was Mobolade Ajomale rising to No. 1 in the country in both the 60m and 200m with a pair of automatic qualifying times for Nationals.

"I thought the team came out and competed hard, and their efforts yielded some season and personal bests," said head coach Kevin LaSure. "Overall it was a pretty good day and should help prepare us for the NCAA Championships in two weeks as well as set our student-athletes up for a successful outdoor season."

Almost foreshadowing his huge achievement in the 60m finals, Ajomale started the day with a 6.70 in the event prelims which earned him that elusive auto qualifier only two other DII athletes had coming into the weekend. The Richmond Hill, Canada native proceeded to better that mark by a considerable margin after the gun sounded in the final, going 6.64 for what is now the fastest time the nation has seen this season.

Less than an hour after his 60m, Ajomale returned for the 200m, an event he also had yet to earn an auto qualifier for this year, and delivered an eye-popping time. His third AQ of the season came in the form of a 20.85 that rocketed him up to the country's leading spot. His time was 0.03 from his own NCAA Division II record set at last year's indoor championships. The sophomore now leads all of NCAA Division II by more than three-tenths of a second.

At the meet's conclusion, Gatien Airiau sent the Urban Knights out on an exciting note with his effort in the 5000m. His first time contesting the event was particularly memorable as he delivered a time of 14:24.63 good for top 20 in the nation. He also became the new Academy of Art program record holder.

Both genders had success in the long jump with Craig Mattox putting himself into DII's top 10 with a distance of 24-3.5 (7.40m) on the men's side. Highlighting the women's four jumpers was Rian Young-Werner who flew to a new personal record 18-7 (5.66m), putting her now fourth in program history.

Jasmine Grace broke through for a Nationals provisional mark in the 200m, going 24.65 to move more than 20 spots up to now top 40 in the country. Grace's 4x400m teammates Schae Graham and Mistic Scott were strong in the 400m with each offering season-bests. Graham matched her lowest time this year with a 56.14 and Scott improved to 56.17 for a pair of provisionals now top 33 in DII.

The women's 4x400m added Marion Presigny and posted the fourth-fastest time in program history with their 3:45.32. Solidifying themselves in the nation's top 10, Academy of Art finishes the regular season ranked ninth overall.

Another program record came from Beatriz Martinez Mercado in the 800m and it was a significant drop in time. From her previous ART U record 2:15.91, she delivered a 2:13.01 on Saturday to move up to 31st in the country with another provisional.

"We had more than a handful of efforts today that moved student-athletes higher on the descending order list," said director of track & field/cross country Torrey Olson. "Some of those marks will be enough to qualify and some will just miss, but I'm proud of how many went out and left it all on the track today."

Academy of Art track & field now looks ahead to its indoor finale with the NCAA Division II Championships taking place Friday and Saturday, Mar. 10-11 inside the Birmingham Crossplex in Alabama.