DII Indoor Track & Field Pre-Nationals Results
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – Academy of Art track & field made its final appearance inside the Virginia Beach Sports Center prior to Indoor Nationals on Saturday and several Urban Knights elevated their NCAA Division II positions in the final day of DII Indoor Track & Field Pre-Nationals including
Marie-Jeanne Ourega in the triple jump,
Duncan Agyemang in the 400m, and the men's 4x400m relay.
On a level significantly above the competition, Ourega was the only triple jumper to surpass 39-1.75 (11.93m) on Saturday and she did so twice, going well beyond at 41-7 (12.67m) on her second attempt then just slightly shorter on her fourth at 41-5.75 (12.64m). She was far and away the top finisher of 23 competitors, adding over an foot to her top mark of the season to get back inside the nation's top four with her fourth meet posting an Indoor Nationals provisional distance.
With two of his eventual 4x400m relay teammates all joining him inside the event's top four, Agyemang offered a strong 400m performance as he led 40 others with a time of 48.11. He took over 0.30 seconds from his previous season best, putting himself 19th in the country as an Indoor Nationals provisional qualifier once more.
The meet's second day of action ended on a truly impressive note as the men's 4x400m relay team of
Makarios Page,
Shareez Hamm,
Robin Black, and Agyemang joined together to run the fastest time for Academy of Art this year. Improving upon the previous top mark by nearly a full second, the quartet handily bested the competition at 3:12.41. Bettering the Indoor Nationals provisional standard by almost five seconds, the effort pushes the Knights up into top five in the nation.
Top seven in the 60m hurdles prelims,
Crockett Schooler delivered his best time of the season in the final, securing fifth at 8.15. He enters a three-way tie for 36th in the country as an Indoor Nationals provisional qualifier.
Out of the 21 to contest the women's 800m emerged two Urban Knights in the first two spots.
Michaela Andrews dropped her mark for the third time this year, going 2:13.25 for the Indoor Nationals provisional performance at 33rd in NCAA DII. She moves up to fourth in ART U history while program record-holder
Lina Hanich was just a fraction of a second from her teammate at 2:13.46. On the men's side,
Vaughn Lacour also offered his best 800m time of the season, having continued to progressively lower his mark to 1:55.17 on Saturday to finish sixth of 33 in the event.
Katharina Goetschl stepped onto the track for just her second indoor mile since joining Academy of Art and she would take more than a second off her debut time at 4:58.54. First overall out of 13 runners, the Industrial Design major can still be found sporting the fifth ranking all-time at ART U.
Coming off a pair of 60m dashes on Friday to reach Saturday's final, Black ended second only to Lenior-Rhyne's Dario Matau with a time of 6.76 across the line. Black remains two spots ahead of Matau nationally, however, thanks to the 6.71 effort the Music & Sound Design for Visual Media major turned in at the Spokane Indoor Challenge. Two women,
Selena Arjona-Alcazar and
Britney Clark, were in the 60m final and, though neither bettered their season bests, both finished among the top five as Arjona-Alcazar took sixth at 7.60 and Clark was just behind in fifth at 7.62.
The women's 4x400m relay featured Clark, Hanich, Andrews, and
Erine Collard in first overall at 3:55.11.
One final weekend of action prior to Indoor Nationals is on tap for ART U as the Knights will make their way to the northeast for the Fasttrack Last Chance Invitational in New York on Feb. 24 then the Last Chance Indoor National Qualifier in Massachusetts on Feb. 26.
