2013 NCAA Division II Men's & Women's Indoor Track & Field Championships Results

Photo Gallery (images by Meghan Bushnell)

Birmingham, AL – On the biggest stage in program history at the NCAA Division II Indoor Track & Field Championships, Academy of Art University shined like never before.

Producing nine NCAA All-Americans in six different events as well as gold medals in both sides of the long jump, the Urban Knights showed they were ready to perform at an elite level under the national spotlight inside the Birmingham Crossplex. Senior Vashti Thomas, who was #1 after the prelims of both the 60m hurdles and 200m dash, was absolutely incredible, reaching the finals of three events while winning the long jump outright. Redshirt freshman Johnny Carter claimed the long jump title with a new program record.

"I was very blessed to come out victorious today!" Carter said. "I put my heart on the runway today and it paid off! I greatly appreciate all of the encouragement from my teammates, coaches, and faculty members who came to support."

Thomas came into Nationals as the country's lone athlete eligible to compete in six different events and she got started with a bang. The San Jose, CA native hit the 20-3.75 (6.19m) mark in her second long jump attempt and that distance was strong enough to keep her in first place the rest of the way without a need for another jump. In one fell swoop right off the bat, Thomas had captured the gold and become an All-American.

The jump mark enabled her to focus on her next event, the 60mH prelims, where she was joined by seniors Briana Stewart and Julian Purvis as well as junior Dinesha Bean. The Urban Knights were split amongst three heats and basically dominated them all. Purvis claimed second in her heat with a time of 8.36, Stewart and Bean went #1 and #2 in their heat with times of 8.32 and 8.33 respectively, and Thomas posted a new program record 8.13 to put herself atop the entire 18-sprinter field. All four qualify for tomorrow's finals in the event.

Ready to offer her encore to a historic cross country effort, senior Jenny Bergren put herself into the top three runners in the prelims of the 1 mile event with a time of 4:51.51. Bergren was just fractions of a second behind Lisa Ohberg of Cal State Los Angeles (4:51.15) and Melissa Agnew of University of Mary (4:51.34), but still became an All-American for the second consecutive season. She will challenge eight others in tomorrows' finals of the 1 mile.

"It has been an amazing experience here," Bergren said. "My teammates have been a huge inspiration to moving forward and I can't wait to see how the rest of [Saturday] unfolds."

In the women's 400m dash prelims, both Bean and freshman Keanna Moody toed the line. Bean produced a 55.45 mark which was her second lowest of the season and Moody went 56.86, however, a strong field of competitors made the qualifying times all below 55.00.

Carter was absolutely pumped for his shot at capping off his first indoor season with an NCAA All-American honor. The redshirt freshman started with a 24-4.5 (7.43m) in his opening attempt and was found in first place after 16 other jumpers had their first chance.

Though one competitor would eventually best that mark, Carter never dropped out as the leader after he flew to a 25-1.75 (25-1.75) in round two. A significant improvement on the previous ART U top mark which Carter himself had set earlier this season, this distance was far enough to win the competition outright by a rather large margin. Carter looks to make it a pair of All-American trophies in the jump events tomorrow as he will be in action in the triple jump.

“Tomorrow, I plan to jump with the same aggression and enter the building with the same mentality!” Carter said.

Redshirt freshman Shaquille Howard was also in action Friday, claiming 10th overall in the 400m dash prelims. His time of 48.03 was his fourth lowest of the season and put him ahead of seven others.

The last event of the day featuring an Urban Knight was another undeniable success as Thomas got into her fourth final by winning the 200m dash. Essentially competing against 18 other sprinters, Thomas ended up edging Danielle Williams of Johnson C. Smith and posting a 23.67 which serves as another new ART U program record. She will compete in the finals tomorrow as Academy of Art goes for its first National Championship in the history of its athletic department.

Live Video coverage resumes tomorrow beginning 1:00 PM PT with Live Results posted as well. Keep an eye on the collected team scores to see where the ART U women's team places.