Academy of Art University Athletics

Making a truly memorable debut for Academy of Art track & field at this past week's 6th Annual Gorilla Classic, Elliot Slade was part of two record-breaking performances that helped assured his spot competing at NCAA Division II Indoor Nationals.

On Feb. 12, Slade joined Omodiaogbe Oboh, Abdelouakil Mustapha, and James Young for a 9:45.51 distance medley relay more than four seconds and better than the previous ART U record by nearly five seconds. The Urban Knights' result was the third-fastest run by any team in the division this year and impressively slotted them in at ninth in the NCAA DII record book.

On the second day of action, Slade competed in his first individual race for ART U, the 800m, where he gained an initial lead, remained at the front of the pack, then made his move to separate from Pitt State's Matt Wilson down the stretch. The new program record of 1:50.89 mark provisionally qualified him for Indoor Nationals and slotted him at ninth in NCAA DII thus far.

Slade closed out the meet as a contributor to the 4x400m relay where he teamed with Oboh, Shareez Hamm, and Makarios Page for a 3:18.92 time that was two seconds off provisional qualification for Indoor Nationals.