2012 Stanford Invitational Results

2012 San Francisco State Distance Carnival Results

Academy of Art University track and field had numerous memorable performances in two separate meets on Friday. Up against the nation's premiere talent, the Urban Knights thrived at the Stanford Invitational with senior Jazmin White (400m), junior Dominique Berry (400m hurdles), and senior Amos Maru (5000m) each turning in new program records with significant lifetime bests in their respective events. Another set of ART U track athletes simultaneously competed in the 2012 San Francisco State Distance Carnival at Cox Stadium where sophomore Chantel King (400m) and senior Daveson Marindich (5000m) both posted new personal records to highlight the day.

“Today was an extremely successful day of chaos,” head coach Charles Ryan said. “Having the teams split between two locations was difficult, but they responded extremely well.”

Palo Alto, CA – Jazmin White, who has seen tremendous progress in the 400m dash this season, continued to improve on her top time with a 56.26 on Friday at the 2012 Stanford Invitational. Out at Cobb Track & Angell Field, White knocked over a full second off her original career mark to place 11th out of 40 and set another new program low.

Dominique Berry also showed off her skills in the 400mH with a 1:01.92 which ranks 1st among ART U's all-time records. She would earn 10th of 31 participants in the event while bettering her previous low by 30 seconds.

“Dom's new lifetime best in the 400m hurdles was also exciting,” Coach Ryan said. “She knows she could have run better, but you really can't argue with a lifetime best.”

The junior tandem of Vashti Thomas and Briana Stewart both ran impressive races in the preliminaries of the 100m hurdles to capture 4th and 8th respectively out of the 54 who competed. Thomas' time of 13.47 was second all-time for Academy of Art and Stewart's 13.75 mark was her best of the season (2nd lowest in her career). The results have Thomas and Stewart in the 100mH finals which will take place tomorrow.

Led by senior Amos Maru and freshman Jaylon Hicks, the men also achieved top times at the Stanford Invitational Friday. Running in the morning, Maru flew through the 5000m run to produce a new ART U record of 14:30.77. He would crush his own previous mark by over 16 seconds and come in at 20th of 34 in the race.

Hicks, who enjoyed a great deal of success sprinting back in his home state of Texas last weekend at the Texas Relays, continued to stay in a groove by qualifying for the finals of the 100m dash on Friday. He posted a time of 10.65 in the preliminaries (7th of 56) and then bettered that mark with a 10.61 in the finals to take 4th of nine. The latter ranks second in program history behind his career low set in Texas.


San Francisco, CA – At the 2012 SF State Distance Carnival, Daveson Marindich would not be outdone by his fellow countryman, Amos Maru, in the 5000m run. After Maru set the new program record earlier in the day at Stanford, Marindich came back with an even better time (14:21.82) to become ART U's number one. The mark was more than a 15-second improvement from his previous record.

Other highlights on the men's side included a pair of strong sprints from junior Stephen Peevy who placed first of 18 in the 400m dash (49.08) and 2nd of 28 in the 200m dash (22.27). Both were personal records and the time in the 400m ranks second all-time for Academy of Art.

Junior Erik Piedad came through with a 6th place finish out of 14 runners in the 100m dash while senior Kennedy Kurgat secured 14th out of 48 in the 800m run.

The women's day at the SF State Distance Carnival saw Chantel King, who finished 2nd out of 13 competitors in the 400m dash, simply run her best race as an Urban Knight. She would cross the line in 58.45 for nearly a full second drop on her original record.

“Chantel King and Jazmin White ran stellar races and you can really see how they are figuring out how to run the right way,” Coach Ryan said. “The drops to their lifetime bests were significant and that was awesome. We are looking forward to seeing them both in the 4x400m relay tomorrow as they will be riding high from today's performances.”

Junior Ashley Austin also posted her own career best in the 100m dash (12.86) and captured 1st out of 15 runners. Another program record came for senior Stacey Toth in the 2 mile which featured her top mark of 12:36.80. Finally, freshman Kylie Long ran a solid 800m to take home 17th place of 33.

“Almost all of our athletes had lifetime bests today and, at this point in the season, we're really looking to hit times,” assistant coach Ben DeLand said. “With that being our goal for the month of April, the crux of the season, it's great to start off on this kind of a note and we will hope to carry the momentum from today and build on it in the meets that follow.”

The Urban Knights will take part in their second day of action at the Stanford Invitational tomorrow, Apr. 7 back at Cobb Track & Angell Field.