2012 Cherry & Silver Invitational Complete Results

Albuquerque, NM -- Highlighting Day Two inside the Indoor Track Convention Center was junior Vashti Thomas' 1st place time (8.26) in the 60m hurdles and freshman Jaylon Hicks' 6.94 time in the 60m (second-best in program history) for Urban Knights track & field. Academy of Art University continues to impress, going up against several of the top NCAA Division I teams in the country in this young indoor season.

"We had some good performances, but this weekend, the story was all about the return of Vashti Thomas," head coach Charles Ryan. "She has worked so hard here on and off the track since her transfer from Texas A&M and I'm so proud of her. She is a natural leader, elected team captain by her teammates, she is a phenomenal talent, but most important she seems truly happy doing what she loves here in this program."

“The experience has been amazing and I just feel so blessed to have this opportunity,” Thomas reflected. “My being at this school is definitely helping me track-wise. Instead of going to classes I wouldn't care about, at Academy of Art, I'm happy to go to classes that I like and I feel as though I'm complete in what I'm doing in my life right now. It makes me feel whole and happy.”

After qualifying for the final 60m hurdles race with an 8.46 preliminary mark, Thomas backed that up with another 1st place finish in the finals. She promptly knocked two tenths of a second off her time when it counted, producing an 8.26 time to lead the 15-athlete field.

“I was really nervous because I hadn't been on the track in forever so I was just hoping to do well,” Thomas said about her first meet in over a year since transferring from Texas A&M University. “After calming down and getting into the flow of the races, I realized it wasn't going to be too bad. I'm in way better shape than I've ever been and that really helped my confidence when I was running.”

In the 400m, senior Jazmin White posted a personal best of 58.11 en route to an 18th place individual finish. The mark serves as the second-best in program history.

A solid women's 4x400 relay, had the team of Thomas, White, Chantel King, and Adrianna James post the new fourth-best collective time (3:59.64) in school history.

The women's team, who were led by junior Briana Stewart's time qualifying her for the USA Indoor Track & Field Championships in the Boise State Jacksons Open & Multi's back in December, finished off yet another impressive meet Saturday night with Thomas making her glorious return.

“I'm just happy I was able help in addition to Briana doing well already,” Thomas said. “I was just happy to keep up my end and not let anyone down. Briana did awesome in Boise and I was just really excited to get our name out there. So now everybody can see that, yes, we are artists and we run super fast as well.”

On the men's side, Hicks came through with a 6.92 preliminary round in the 60m before taking 8th in the finals with a 6.94 time good enough for second on the ART U All-Time list.

Day Two action featured sophomore Reneilwe Aphane's second outing in the triple jump in which he came away with a 45-2.25 to rank fourth overall for Academy of Art Indoor track & field.

"It's was great to get back in the swing of competition," Coach Ryan said. "The winter break tends to separate the dedicated athletes from those who just want to be on the roster. This meet was a good measuring stick for us and we most definitely have work to do."


2012 Run for the Dream Results

Fresno, CA -- Also on Friday, Jan. 21, another group of ART U track & field athletes traveled to Fresno State's Save Mart Center for the Run for the Dream invitational. The competition served more as a preparatory meet for the outdoor season with many of the Urban Knight distance runners involved. The Run for the Dream invitational features a state-of-the-art indoor track, which is the only indoor track event in California.

“Overall the distance crew was looking to get in a good effort,” assistant coach Ben DeLand said. “Everyone ran under-distance races to get a little speed in the legs then we all went outside and did a little workout to complete the day. It was a good day of work. With the distance crew, we're looking towards outdoor, but using indoor to build strength and fitness as well as using races to refine tactics so when we come to outdoor, we're ready to go. That way, we'll hit our big outdoor meets strongly.”

For the men, senior Emil Tolliver and junior Erik Piedad competed in the 55m dash with Tolliver finishing 2nd in his heat with a time of 6.69 and Piedad taking 3rd out of his group (6.75). The two times were new program records with Tolliver's the top mark overall.

In the 600 yard run, senior Simon Mutai came through in 5th sporting a time of 1:22.17 while teammate and freshman Temarius Walker was not far behind in 6th (1:25.31). Two more Urban Knights got in work for the 1 mile run with senior Daveson Marindich capturing 7th via his time of 4:32.33 which ranked fourth in the All-Time Record list. Freshman Jack Nevins crossed the line just over five seconds later (4:37.72) in 8th.

On the women's side, there was one event, the 600 yard run, which featured two ART U athletes. Freshman Kylie Long turned in a strong 1:33.41 to claim 2nd place in her heat and simultaneously best her twin sister Kendall Long for the top mark in program history. Sophomore Heather Castro added a time of 1:38.96 to take 3rd in her heat.

“I was pleased with Kylie's race today,” Coach DeLand said. “She executed the race well and finished off the last half like we wanted to. It was a good under-distance race for her as she's building towards the 800m. She raced well which is what we were looking to get from it. We wanted to just go out, be competitive, and run hard.”

The 2011-12 ART U Indoor track & field season continues Jan. 27-28 as the Urban Knights return to Albuquerque, NM for the New Mexico Invitational inside the Indoor Track Convention Center.