2022 NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field National Championships Results (Day 1)
ALLENDALE, Mich. – The 26th National Champion in Academy of Art history was crowned Thursday as ART U track & field began the NCAA Division II Outdoor National Championships at Grand Valley State's Lacrosse & Track Stadium.
Marie-Jeanne Ourega repeated as the top long jumper in the country to highlight a day that also included five other Urban Knights and one relay qualifying through their respective event prelims.
Seeking her second long jump title in as many seasons, Ourega patiently waited through the event's first flight and, with a 20-0.25 (6.10m) on her first attempt, ascended to second overall. The Communications & Media Technologies major then posted what would be her best mark of the day at 20-10.75 (6.37m) on her second try. Holding up the rest of the way, the closest any other jumper came to that mark would be Fayetteville State's M'Smyra Seward (20-5/6.22m) as Ourega became a 10-time All-American in her career. Ourega's performance made it now two Urban Knights among the top seven in the history of NCAA DII Outdoor Nationals as her seventh-place effort joins multi-time Hall of Famer Vashti Thomas whose 21-2.75 (6.47m) is fourth overall.
"Starting the meet with the long jump first always puts a little bit of pressure on me," Ourega said. "I knew that winning the long jump would put me in a good state of mind for the other events. It was important for me to defend my title in the long jump."
The first of the women's non-multi events on the track, the prelims of the 4x100m relay saw Ourega,
Darria Matthias,
Ombretta Picciolie Minkue Meye, and
Selena Arjona-Alcazar settle in at fourth between fellow Pacific West Conference quartets from Fresno Pacific and Azusa Pacific. The Urban Knights' 45.48 mark was second in their heat, earning them one of four automatic qualifications.
A 100m dash prelim loaded with talent saw Arjona-Alcazar break her own Academy of Art program record, doing so with a wind-legal 11.50 mark. The time, which bettered her previous 11.54 (which carried a +2.3 m/s wind), was second out of her heat and fifth overall ahead of sixth-place Mechaela Haycinth's 11.51 by 0.01 seconds. The next closest wind-legal mark run by an Urban Knight is 11.65 belonging to Minkue Meye in 2019.
Breaking an ART U record that had stood since 2017,
Shareez Hamm ran more than a second faster than the best the program has seen in the 400m hurdles prelims at 50.74. Nearly a two-second drop from his top time in an Academy of Art uniform, the mark was fourth overall, officially qualifying him for Saturday's final only after action was stopped for a weather delay of one hour and eight minutes.
After jumping out to an initial lead in the 1500m prelims,
Natalia Novak found herself fifth in her heat midway through. The Communications & Media Technologies major would then rise five spots over the final straightaway to finish second both in the heat and overall at 4:23.05 which was less than 0.11 seconds ahead of the fifth competitor. In the same heat as her teammate,
Delanie Dykes maintained positioning in the middle pack and ended at 4:30.33, placing 16th of 22 overall in the two prelims.
Confidently taking the first spot in his heat, the third of the day,
Duncan Agyemang delivered his best time as an Urban Knight in the 400m prelims at 46.45. The performance had him second overall while bringing him ever closer to the second spot in program history held by Shaquille Howard (46.33).
The quickest 400m time in the young collegiate career of
Alisha Wilson was also second-fastest in Academy of Art history at 54.41. Third out of her opening heat, the dynamic two-sport student-athlete claimed eighth overall, picking up one of the three remaining spots not taken by each heat's top two. In program history, she moved ahead of Minkue Meye, who went 55.33 to finish 14th overall two heats later.
In the men's 3000m steeplechase prelims,
Saba Khvichava was hanging in the middle of his opening heat, but could not reach a closely contested top five finishers, coming through with a time of 9:55.77 across the line.
Outdoor Nationals will continue tomorrow with its second of three days at GVSU Lacrosse & Track Stadium as ART U's action begins with Ourega in the triple jump at 4:45 p.m. ET (1:45 p.m. PT).
