2022 Spokane Invitational Results

SPOKANE, Wash. – Opening the 2022-23 indoor track & field season on Saturday, Academy of Art delivered a grand total of 11 NCAA Division II provisional marks at the Spokane Invitational inside The Podium on Saturday. Three were turned in by Marie-Jeanne Ourega (two in the horizontal jumps, one in 60m hurdles) while Robin Black (60mH, 200m, 4x400m relay) debuted by contributing to three on the men's side as well.

"It was great to get back on the track for a competition and knock off some of the rust," said Director of Track & Field/Cross Country Kevin LaSure. "December gives us a good idea of where we are from a fitness standpoint and also allows us to work on our technical execution against some outside competition."

Coming off a 2022 indoor campaign which culminated with finishing within the top three in both the long and triple jumps, Ourega quickly ascended the DII leaderboards on Saturday. Her fourth long jump attempt was her best as she posted a distance of 18-9.75 (5.73m) good for fifth in a 58-competitor field loaded with NCAA Division I talent from Stanford, Oregon State, and Washington State. Settling in at fifth in NCAA DII, she added another national top-two effort in the triple jump where she soared to 40-2.75 (12.26m) to lead 25 others from Idaho, Nevada, and Stanford among the opposition. Finally, in the 60mH, Ourega finished fifth of 21 (14 from DI programs) with her time of 8.84 taking her to 22nd in DII as a provisional qualifier for Indoor Nationals.

There was an event winner from ART U in the men's triple jump as Mathieu Tshani emerged with his own provisional qualification at 49-6.25 (15.09m) on his final attempt. First of nine, he bested competitors from Eastern Washington and Stanford while ascending to the fourth spot in DII. Tshani also joined Yacouba Gnacko inside the top eight of 39 long jumpers as the latter went 22-2.5 (6.77m) and Tshani finished at 22-1 (6.73m).

Black saw quite a bit of action in four different events Saturday and he ran strong at every distance. The 60mH began with his 8.21 leading two other Urban Knights, Crockett Schooler and Shareez Hamm, in the top six qualifiers to the final where the trio all improved. Black took second (first among NCAA competitors) at 8.01, putting him second in Academy of Art history while fourth in DII this season. Schooler came through at 8.25 to add his name into ART U's top four while Hamm posted a personal record 8.33 to put all three inside the top five.

"Robin Black had a really good day," LaSure said. "It was great to see him get an opportunity to get back out there and compete after such a long layoff for him."

Far from finished, Black then offered an Indoor Nationals provisional 21.41 (third in both Academy of Art history and in DII this season) in the 200m where Ajani Ince joined his teammate in the program's top five historically as his 21.74 had him fourth in the heavy NCAA DI 48-sprinter field, 0.05 seconds from provisional qualification.

Both Black and Ince would be the final two Knights to carry the baton in the 4x400m as Makarios Page and Hamm also contributed to a 3:13.31 mark which was less than two seconds from Washington's quartet. The time was second in DII this year, quickly making ART U Indoor Nationals provisional qualifiers.

Though he did not hit the provisional standard, Black (48.63) was one of three Knights inside the top four (five in the top 10) in the 400m where Duncan Agyemang walked away with the fourth-fastest time in NCAA DII thus far at 48.46. Agyemang earned provisional qualification and Hamm's 48.60 was extremely close.

Individually, Ince also shined at 60m where he initially bettered 15 others (eight from NCAA DI institutions), going 6.88 to qualify to the final. There he would surpass two of the DI competitors originally ahead of him in the prelims, finishing fourth overall at 6.85 (fourth in program history) to collect the Indoor Nationals provisional time while starting the season at 15th in DII.

Three strong performances came from Knights at both 60m and 200m with Selena Arjona-Alcazar, Darria Matthias, and Britney Clark ending separated by just 0.12 seconds in the 60m prelims then by just over half a second in the 200m. Arjona-Alcazar led the way at each distance, opening with an Indoor Nationals provisional 7.59 in front of all NCAA DI runners (18th in DII) in the 60m prelims while Matthias (7.67) and Clark (7.71) ended between 0.01 and 0.05 seconds from the standard.

At 200m, 2022 National Champion runner-up Arjona-Alcazar opened at eighth in DII with a provisional 24.66 that was ahead of top finishers from Stanford, Idaho, and Oregon State. Those last two institutions' leaders were also bested by Clark (24.96) and Matthias (25.07) who made it three Knights inside the top seven out of a 55-runnner field.

More top finishes were in store for Academy of Art on the day with Lina Hanich (5:05.42) pacing a trio from Gonzaga in the 14-runner mile and Elijah Roberts tying for first in the high jump. He matched Washington State's Daylon Hicks in clearing the bar at 6-6.75 (2.00m) to best 15 others (four from NCAA DI institutions) while taking over the second spot in ART U history and coming 0.03m shy of the provisional standard.

Two Urban Knights opened the indoor campaign with top-three marks in the program's 600m history as Taj-Leon Wisdom's 1:23.52 was second only to Rabah Houali's program record (1:21.68) and Michaela Andrews' 1:38.63 had her third, less than two seconds from the record held by Hannah Hensley (1:36.68).

Fresh off leading ART U at NCAA DII West Regionals in cross country, the respective first races of the indoor season came for Lisa Redlinger and Audrey Rosencrans who ended seventh (10:25.74) and ninth (10:40.15) respectively out of 20 total competitors.

In her first action as an Urban Knight, Anna Belles Gallen placed seventh of 35 at 400m (57.59) before joining Clark, Erine Collard, and Hanich for fifth of 17 in the 4x400m relay (3:56.51) ahead of numerous NCAA DI quartets.

When Academy of Art returns in action in January 2023, it will be for the Cougar Classic Invitational and Spokane Indoor Challenge hosted by Washington State on Jan. 13.