2012 Drake Relays Results

2012 Brutus Hamilton Open Results
2012 Brutus Hamilton Invitational Results

In the team's last major competition for the month of April, Academy of Art University Track & Field offered an encore to its memorable performances Friday in a pair of locations. Having reached the finals in two events at the Drake Relays, Saturday saw strong outings by the women's 4x400m relay team and junior Vashti Thomas (100mH). Over at Cal's Brutus Hamilton Invitational, ART U's top performances included a program record for junior Stephen Peevy in the 400m dash and another by the men's 4x100m relay.

Des Moines, IA – After having qualified for the finals of the women's 4x400m relay on Friday, Thomas along with senior Jazmin White, junior Dominique Berry, and sophomore Chantel King returned to Drake Stadium Saturday. The Knights quartet combined to post a 3:47.71 mark in the event. Though not their highest of the season, that result now represents the third-best time in program history.

"We had a tough weekend out here. On one hand, we definitely competed well, made finals, and gained a lot of respect on a national stage. On the other hand, we fell well short of our goals and our standard,” head coach Charles Ryan said. “I think the ladies learned a lot this weekend. In the finals of the 4x400, we competed against the NCAA DII National Champions, the DIII National Champions, and the NAIA National Champions. The girls got a clear picture of just how much work we have to do before we are ready to beat that caliber of teams. We are on the right track, we will evolve, and we will be back to see them all again in the future. I'm very proud of the ladies. They left it all on the track this weekend and as a coach that's all you can ask for."

In individual competition, Thomas turned in a 13.60 as part of the 100m hurdles finals and Berry added the fourth-lowest time by an Urban Knight in the 400mH. The Oakland, CA native crossed the line at 1:02.76 and continues to own the top marks in that event for Academy of Art.


Berkeley, CA – Among the top performances from the ART U men competing in six different events at the Brutus Hamilton Invitational were Peevy, senior Emil Tolliver, junior Erik Piedad, and freshman Jaylon Hicks coming through with a new program record in the 4x100m relay and Peevy's individual 400m Knights record.

The men's team battled four other Division I squads and ended up achieving a time of 41.48. The new #1 mark comes just a week after the same combination competed at the Beach Invitational.

Peevy would come back strong to follow up his top time in the 400m that came a week ago as well. Executing a strong finish, the Los Angeles, CA native claimed a 48.20 final result while placing 3rd out of 12 other runners. Peevy remains the holder of four of the five top times on ART U's All-Time Record list in the 400m.

“The highlights today were definitely the men's 4x1 and Stephen's race [in the 400m],” assistant coach Ben DeLand said. “He had a very good last 200 and finished his race very well.”

Other sprinters would also offer individual accomplishments Saturday as Hicks started with a 10.67 in the preliminaries of the 100m dash (he finished 5th of 15, beating out sprinters from Fresno State and Stanford) before dropping down to a 10.62 for the finals. That second mark is the fourth-lowest time for an Urban Knight track athlete.

Tolliver was strong in the 200m dash, pulling away from others in his heat down the stretch to take a 21.77 (4th all-time) and finish 4th of 12 overall.

Academy of Art also had one athlete, senior Kennedy Kurgat, compete in the 800m at Stanford's Payton Jordan Invitational on Sunday.

The Urban Knights next have the Oxy Invitational hosted by Occidental College coming up on Saturday, May 5 in Los Angeles, CA. This will be the final meet of the 2012 season before the USA Junior Track & Field Championships and the Olympic Trials take place in June.