2023 USTFCCCA Indoor Regional Award Winners

NEW ORLEANS – Capping an indoor season that saw a fourth-place finish for its men's team, Academy of Art track & field had one student-athlete and two coaches earn regional recognition as announced by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) on Friday. Indoor West Region selections featured Duncan Agyemang as Men's Track Athlete of the Year while Director of Track & Field/Cross Country Kevin LaSure was awarded Men's Coach of the Year and Assistant Coach Nkosinza Balumbu was named Men's Assistant Coach of the Year. 

In his eighth year at ART U's helm, LaSure was the West Region's Coach of the Year following the men's team finishing fourth at Indoor Nationals, the second-best result in program history behind Academy of Art's third-place result in 2016. The Urban Knights' 2023 finish was the top in the region by 21 places (Azusa Pacific took 25th) and came with contributions up and down the roster including runners-up to the National Champions in the triple jump, 400m, and 4x400m relay. As a whole the indoor season featured multiple new program records and 14 Indoor Nationals provisional qualifications before seven All-American First Team trophies were lifted in the postseason. Among the records was the men's 4x400m relay delivering the seventh-fastest time in NCAA Division II history on Mar. 11.

Balumbu concluded his fourth indoor season with the Urban Knights as the West Region's Assistant Coach of the Year with a pair of triple jumpers contributing to the aforementioned fourth-place finish on the men's side. Yacouba Gnacko and Mathieu Tshani both surpassed 50 feet (15.24m) in the triple jump's opening round at Indoor Nationals and proceeded to finish second and fourth respectively with Gnacko delivering a new personal record 51-8.25 (15.75m) in the process. The duo, who can be found second and third in Academy of Art history, both ended as First Team All-Americans and were among the three Indoor Nationals provisional qualifiers from ART U in the jump events specifically.

Finishing as runner-up to the National Champion with his teammates in the 4x400m relay and fourth in the 400m, Agyemang emerged from Indoor Nationals as a five-time All-American and the West Region Track Athlete of the Year. After a season that saw him collect two All-Region honors, reaching the finale second nationally in the 4x400m and seventh in the 400m (both first in the region), he went 47.35 in the 400m finale to claim fourth overall then anchored the 4x400m team with Makarios Page, Omodiaogbe Oboh, and Shareez Hamm on Mar. 11. The Urban Knights went toe-to-toe with Pitt State's quartet down the stretch and it was Agyemang who nearly bested the Gorillas' Braylen Brewer, ending just 0.09 seconds from the top spot with a 46.71 split. When the dust had settled across the line, ART U had delivered a new program record of 3:09.72, seventh in DII history, to better the historic mark set this past Feb. 26.

This is the fourth West Region Men's Indoor Coach of the Year honor in LaSure's career (eighth combining the men's and women's sides), and is the first Indoor Men's Assistant Coach of the Year award for Balumbu (third in career combining the men's and women's sides). For Agyemang, it is his second time earning USTFCCCA Regional Athlete of the Year awards in his career after he was named Outdoor Track Athlete of the Year in 2022.