2023 NCAA Division II Indoor Track & Field Championships Results

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – All-Americans emerged in both the women's and men's triple jump, the men's 400m, women's 200m, and men's 4x400m on Saturday inside Virginia Beach Sports Center as Academy of Art track & field concluded NCAA Division II Indoor Nationals with many trips to the podium. Among those was the entire men's team who finished fourth overall for their second-highest result in program history.

Less than 24 hours after being crowned National Champion in the long jump, Marie-Jeanne Ourega yet again achieved an indoor best in the triple jump. The Communications & Media Technologies major rose in the standings on her second attempt, delivering a 42-0.75 (12.82m) mark which had her third heading into the final round. Ourega's first time ever surpassing 42 feet in the event's indoor version held her in the fourth position overall by the end. She completes her third indoor season to date as a 15-time All-American across indoor and outdoor.

A new indoor best also came on the men's side of the triple jump where the tandem of Yacouba Gnacko and Mathieu Tshani both raised All-American trophies by the conclusion. Both among the four who surpassed 50 feet (15.24m) in the opening round, Gnacko was third and Tshani fourth as they advanced to the final where each saved their best marks of the afternoon for their final attempts. Gnacko soared to his best distance in indoor or outdoor at 51-8.25 (15.75m) to finish runner-up to the National Champion, Pitt State's Treyvon Ferguson at 52-1.25 (15.88m), while Tshani was not far behind remaining in the fourth spot with at 50-11 (15.52m). The duo can still be found second and third in program history.

The men's 400m final featured three impressive heats with Duncan Agyemang as the winner of the opening trio of competitors. Out-pacing West Texas A&M's Brien Pittman, Agyemang crossed the finish line at 47.35 before the remaining two heats. The Communications & Media Technologies major would end fourth overall in the event by just over 0.1 seconds, soon hoisting his fourth All-American honor since joining Academy of Art last year.

His fifth would come later when Agyemang served as the anchor to the men's 4x400m relay which began with Makarios Page leading the third and fastest heat. He would hand to Omodiaogbe Oboh then Shareez Hamm as the Urban Knights went toe-to-toe with Pitt State's quartet down the stretch. In the end, Agyemang was alongside the Gorillas' Braylen Brewer who just edged out the win by 0.09 seconds. When the dust had settled across the line, ART U had delivered a new program record of 3:09.72 to better the historic mark set this past Feb. 26.

Selena Arjona-Alcazar would challenge the eventual 200m National Champion Alexis Brown of Lenior-Rhyne as well as the third place finisher, Denisha Cartwright, in her heat en route to being named an All-American for the eighth time in her career. Her time of 24.01 placed her seventh when both heats had been run.

"Great effort all-around this weekend," said Director of Track & Field/Cross Country Kevin LaSure. "Marie-Jeanne and Selena battled tough all weekend for our women's team and Marie-Jeanne came through with a hard-fought win in the long jump."

As a collective, the ART U women's 17 points put them 14th overall ahead of Findlay and Missouri Southern (both 14 points) while the men tied with West Texas A&M and Missouri Southern at 26 points apiece. The fourth place finish was second only to the 2016 Urban Knights squad who took third in LaSure's debut season with the program.

"The men really stepped up this weekend," LaSure said. "Yacouba and Mathieu were huge for us in the triple jump, Duncan scored valuable points in the 400m and the men's 4x400m (Makarios, Omodiaogbe, Shareez and Duncan) closed the meet out on a strong note with a big second place finish to help the men finish fourth overall as a team and make the podium. Extremely proud of the way each of them competed this week and really excited for the outdoor season moving forward."

Having now finished its 2023 indoor season, Academy of Art prepares to begin its outdoor campaign with Stanford's Cardinal Classic on Mar. 18.