2017 PacWest Conference Championships (Day 1 Results)

SAN DIEGO – Off to its best start to the Pacific West Conference Championships in the history of both the men's and women's programs, Academy of Art University track & field had a memorable first day out at Point Loma's Track & Field on Friday. Long jump titles were earned by Hannah Hensley and Michane Ricketts, Gatien Airiau blew away the competition to become the 3000m steeplechase champion, and a host of Urban Knights achieved personal bests with several posting NCAA Nationals provisional marks in the process.

A total of four ART U jumpers reached the finals of the women's long jump including Hensley, Marion Presigny, Rian Young-Werner, and Hadiyah Muhammad. Drama ensued as Hensley stepped onto the runway for her final attempt still behind Concordia's defending champion Sarah Herron. Hensley would push herself to a season-best 19-3.25 (5.88), moving her not only into first place, but also 26th in the country. Presigny would take fifth place with her own season-best 18-1.5 (5.53m) and Young-Werner followed as a scorer in sixth, flying to 18-1.25 (5.52m).

For the men's long jump, four Knights also made the finals, but it was Ricketts' initial attempt of 23-9.25 (7.25m) that earned him the title. Craig Mattox, last year's champion, claimed second place with a 23-6.25 (7.17m) also in his first trip down the runway. Brady Johnson broke out for a huge personal best in fourth, soaring to 22-10.25 (6.97m), effectively crushing his previous PR (22-2.5) and moving into fifth on Academy of Art's all-time list. Desmond Deshay picked up points in fifth place with a 21-6.5 (6.57m) that was less than an inch off his personal best.

Airiau did battle with fellow Frenchman Duncan Perillat-Amede of California Baptist in the 3000m steeplechase, but by the final 1125m, Airiau had begun to make his move. An inspired effort led him to the title in first overall with a time of 8:57.69 that was more than 10 seconds faster than Perillat-Amede in second place. Airiau's time was both a meet and stadium record.

Points came from Knights in both sides of the 10,000m with Jamie Morris emerging for a fifth-place finish with a new personal record of 38:49.53. Brett Bermudez closed out the evening with a fourth-place result, sporting a 32:49.46 as he crossed the finish line.

The day's first scoring event was the women's javelin which featured scoring efforts from both Hensley and Briaunna Caver. Though still simultaneously competing in the heptathlon, Caver would launch a personal best 111-0.25 (33.84m) for fifth and Hensley threw her own PR of 110-9.5 (33.77m) before heading over to the long jump. On the men's side, Ricketts tossed a 170-6.75 (51.99m) before he also moved across the track to the long jump pit to capture the title there. He would finish third overall in the javelin, extending the program record with a personal record.

Caver would also impress in the shot put of the women's heptathlon where she and Folke Woch each threw new personal bests and scored over 600 points apiece. Woch became ART U's new record holder with a 39-3.5 (11.98m) while Caver's 37-5 (11.41m) neared Jesseka Raymond's now third-place record of 37-7. Woch also won the 100m hurdles with a 15.12, Caver posted a PR of 4-11 (1.50m) in the high jump, and at the day's conclusion, Woch held a solid lead in first overall with 2837 points.

Breakthroughs came from nearly everyone in event prelims including two very impressive performances by Quinlan Wright in the two hurdle events. The 110m hurdles saw him lead nine other competitors with a new personal best 14.55. The 400m hurdles came less than two hours later and featured another PR of 52.26 which rocketed him up into the top 10 across NCAA Division II.

Presigny was also special in the hurdles prelims and came away as the leader in both event prelims like Wright. A season-best 13.94 in the 100m hurdles not only put her first in the PacWest field on Friday, but also got her into the country's top 15 as a NCAA provisional mark. She would come back with a 1:02.95 for first overall by almost a second in the 400m hurdles. Hensley will join Presigny in the 100mH finals after finishing fifth with a personal best 14.47.

In the women's 400m dash prelims, Schae Graham exploded to her first sub-56.00 mark as a collegiate athlete. She would finish first of 16 total sprinters at 55.66 good for a top 25 time in the country. Mistic Scott took second with a 56.16 after leading her heat. On the men's side of the 400m, Christian Carter turned in a personal best 48.86 for third and Michael Houston qualified in fifth at 49.39.

Both 100m dash prelims featured strong marks from ART U with Jasmine Grace and Rian Young-Werner both going personal bests of 12.09 (separated by 0.002) for fourth and fifth respectively while Jameela Muhammad also made the finals in eighth after adding a PR of 12.33. Three men in the 100m were led by defending champion Mobolade Ajomale who blazed to a 10.39. Mattox finished third with a personal best of 10.82 and Ricketts took fourth on the fastest time he's ran for Academy of Art (10.84).

The 800m prelims leader was Beatriz Martinez Mercado who went 2:13.97 for a new meet record. Ashley Brown followed in fifth offering a new personal best of 2:14.28. The men's 800m highlight was Jarred Gregory-Grimes. He dropped more than a second off his previous personal best, going 1:54.96 for seventh to reach the finals.

A plethora of personal records came in the women's 200m prelims with Grace (24.35) in fourth, Graham (24.47) in fifth, Scott (24.63) in sixth, and Young-Werner (24.79) in seventh. The top three were collegiate bests and Grace's mark put her among the country's top 30. For the men, Ajomale was once again the leader at 20.88 while Mattox (second) and Carter (seventh) each posted the fastest times for ART U, going 21.60 and 21.90 respectively.

In the women's 1500m prelims, Kaelyn Harbison qualified for the finals, turning in the second-fastest time of the day. She went 4:55.24 to lead her heat and ended up behind PLNUs Josie Frye when the finals had been set.

After one day of action, the ART U men's team stands in second place with 44 points behind Azusa Pacific's 80 and the women's team is sixth with 18 points with APU the leader (48 points) as well.

Academy of Art returns to Point Loma's Track & Field tomorrow for a full day of finals beginning with competitors in the women's long jump in the multi's at 10:45 a.m. followed by the men's triple jump at noon.