Full Results
Davis, CA -- The Academy of Art men's and women's track & field team traveled to Davis, CA today to take part in the Aggie Open hosted by UC Davis. Competing against Division I and Division II programs the Urban Knights held their own and even walked away with some of the day's highest marks. Sophomore
Briana Stewart took the Urban Knights highest spot, finishing first in the women's triple jump over host institution UC Davis and University of Nevada, both competing at the DI level.
The meet had more than 700 athletes from both two-year and four-year colleges and universities, plus a smattering of unattached and/or masters' competitors.
On the track for the men it was
Geoffrey Cheruiyot who broke his career best in the 800m run to finish in 1:55.73 right behind host institutions' Jonathan Sees.
Cheruiyot took the men's highest spot today with the second place finish. While
Kennedy Kurgat placed right behind his teammate with his career best of 1:55.82.
AAU ran their first relay team today and had the schools first top 10 finish in the event.
Erik Piedad ,
Joey Villasenor,
Durelle Williams, and
Aric Armon comprised the Urban Knights first 4x400 relay team and finished in 3:35.17 for ninth place.
Williams also competed in field events, taking sixth in the long jump (6.53m) and seventh in the triple jump (13.50m).
Amos Maru was the only male to run in the 5000 meter run today and his time of 15:15.32 garnered him the teams seventh top 10 honor.
For the women,
Emily Allis finished in 1:08.06 for seventh in the 400 meter hurdles, while
Stewart, in her first ever appearance, placed fourth in the women's 110 meter hurdles in a time of 14.21.
The strong weather conditions on the track today held off some of AAU's personal bests but coaches and players alike are proud of the teams' efforts today and look forward to the continued improvement.
Next week the team travels back to Davis, CA to take part in the Davis Classic. Coach Victor Hudson says this, "Many of us are gearing up for Stanford Invite in two weeks so next week we will be back at Davis, but will have the athletes change it up and focus on events that aren't necessarily their main events to work on speed. We will have three 4 x 400 relay teams on the men's and women's side to use as a speed workout to fine tune for Stanford."
