2023 Spokane Indoor Challenge Results

SPOKANE, Wash. – In just the second meet of the season, Academy of Art track & field had numerous Urban Knights add their names to the list of provisional qualifiers for NCAA Division II Indoor Nationals as ART U wrapped up the Spokane Indoor Challenge back inside The Podium on Saturday.

"Great effort all around," said Director of Track & Field/Cross Country Kevin LaSure. "We wanted to used today as another workout for everyone this week, and a chance to work on some things against some good outside competition. We are extremely excited with the direction the team is moving in and we are just looking to continue to get a little better each day."

Having come into the weekend just inside the top 20 long jumpers in the country, Marie-Jeanne Ourega dramatically changed that ranking when she delivered a mark of 19-10.25 (6.05m) on her second attempt. Already in first place of 35 on the day following her first attempt at 19-2.5 (5.85m), the Communications & Media Technologies major significantly distanced herself from NCAA DI Stanford's top finisher and others immediately thereafter. Ourega is now second in the country in the event.

Meanwhile, though she did not surpass her best mark of the season in the triple jump (where she is currently sixth in the nation), Ourega still came through with what would be an Indoor Nationals provisional 39-11.25 (12.17m), ending third of 12 jumpers to register marks behind pair from NCAA DI San Jose State, but well in front of the next closest two from NCAA DII institutions.

Looking to move further up among the nation's best, Mathieu Tshani added more than a full foot improvement to his triple jump mark from his last trip to Spokane. He landed at 51-1 (15.57m) on his fifth attempt to elevate to second in NCAA DII while Yacouba Gnacko, who joined Tshani in delivering Indoor Nationals provisional marks on every legal jump, registered a 49-0.75 (14.95m) on his fourth attempt to now sit among the top seven in the country. On the day, the pair finished first and third respectively with a jumper from Eastern Washington in between while Stanford and Cal State Northridge's competitors were a distant fourth and fifth.

Impressing with a time nearly a full second better than the Urban Knights' debut last month, Makarios Page, Shareez Hamm, Robin Black, and Duncan Agyemang dropped to a 3:12.64 in the 4x400m relay. The Indoor Nationals provisional earned them first overall at the meet (second in NCAA DII) by a nearly seven-second margin ahead of Cal State Northridge as well as the second ART U squad of Omodiaogbe Oboh, Ajani Ince, Taj-Leon Wisdom, and Crockett Schooler who finished third at 3:20.91.

Black had tremendous success individually in the 60m and 200m as well. He began the day by taking first of 66 competitors attempting to qualify for the 60m prelims at 6.90 before dropping to 6.75 in just his second 60m with Academy of Art. Already with Indoor Nationals provisional qualification with that time which had him fourth of 19 and making the final, the Music & Sound Design for Visual Media major lowered even further to 6.71 for second out of eight in a NCAA DI heavy final, rising him to fourth in the country as well as second only to ART U Hall of Famer Mobolade Ajomale in program history.

Though he did not better his fastest time this season in the 200m, Black still attached what would be an Indoor Nationals provisional qualifier of 21.53 for runner-up to San Jose State's first-place finisher in a field of 57. Also inside the event's top 10 was Ince at 21.94, putting him second among sprinters from NCAA DII institutions.

An Indoor Nationals provisional mark emerged from the women's 60m dash as well with Darria Matthias progressing from a 7.65, which put her sixth of 22 in the event's prelims, down to a 7.64 for fourth of eight in a final that included five NCAA DI competitors. Under the qualifying standard with both of her times, Matthias continued to lower her time from last December, settling into the country's top 30 in the process. Selena Arjona-Alcazar's 7.69 had her three spots from the final in 11th for the prelims while Britney Clark took 14th in that round at 7.77. Alicia Thomas started her ART U career with a 7.96 for ninth of 35 runners in the 60m qualifying round. 

Arjona-Alcazar was also in action in the 200m where she took time off her debut mark, going 24.63 for the seventh-fastest time in NCAA DII this season thus far. She picked up the Indoor Nationals provisional along with Matthias just a fraction of a second behind at 24.71 (11th in NCAA DII). The duo were sixth and seventh respectively out of the 67 sprinters who stepped onto the track for the event with many hailing from NCAA DI schools. Thomas (25.56) and Collard (26.51) were also in action and they followed Arjona-Alcazar's 1:01.28 as the top time for ART U in the 400m.

The men's 400m was dominated by Urban Knights as Hamm (48.28), Agyemang (48.46), and Page (48.51) composed the top three marks to emerge out of 39 total competitors. All times that met the Indoor Nationals provisional standard, the effort put Hamm fourth in NCAA DII, kept Agyemang at eight nationally as it matched his 2022-23 debut, and Page 12th in the country as he signed off on his fastest indoor 400m with Academy of Art. Not much further down the day's list was Oboh (49.58) and Ince (49.64) at 10th and 11th respectively, both within 1.05 seconds from provisional qualification.

In her first 800m of the season, Lina Hanich posted an Indoor Nationals provisional time of 2:13.47 which had her second of 18 overall in another event featuring multiple runners from NCAA DI Boise State and UC Irvine. She began at third in the country with the effort while Michaela Andrews (2:19.22) checked in at eighth. Both Hanich and Andrews would later join Matthias and Collard in the 4x400m relay, going 4:11.85 across the finish line.

Katharina Goetschl jumped into fourth in ART U history with a 10:03.55 for her 3000m debut. Bettering numerous competitors from Eastern Washington and Montana, she earned first place of 19 overall while teammate Audrey Rosencrans followed in 10th (10:47.95).

Shifting from the distance medley relay to individual events, Vaughn Lacour went 1:56.91 for 10th of 24 in the 800m and Conrad Heinemann offered a 9:14.47 in the 3000m. Wisdom's first collegiate 800m saw him go 1:58.30 while Jaden Singleton added a 2:01.02 mark. Hudson Lockette turned in a 4:34.58 mile time.

The Urban Knights' next two meets, the Marlin and Blue Marlin Invitationals, will take place inside Virginia Beach Sports Center, the future site of Indoor Nationals, on Jan. 20-21.