2017 Pacific West Conference Championships Results

SAN DIEGO – As Academy of Art University track & field exited the Pacific West Conference Championships on Saturday, the Urban Knights did so with a collection of medals including 24 golds en route to the men finishing second and the women taking third overall. Much like Friday, the meet finale saw many incredible performances to go with 15 titles including several by Most Outstanding Athletes of the Meet Hannah Hensley (Field) and Mobolade Ajomale (Track).

"We are extremely proud of the way the team competed this weekend," said head coach Kevin LaSure. "There were a lot of personal bests, school, and meet records broken which means that athletes are starting to perform at their best at the right point in the season. I saw a lot of athletes competing hard and giving maximum effort not only for themselves, but for their teammates and the program as a whole. There were a lot of positive takeaways from this weekend and it gave us a lot to build on for future championship meets."

Coming off her inspired finish to earn the long jump championship one day prior, Hensley found herself in the event where she is currently ranked No. 1 in the country – the high jump. As the bar was raised to 1.62m, she was contending with Fresno Pacific's Montana Lowe and ART U's own Marion Presigny. After all cleared the height, both Hensley and Presigny passed on the next height of 1.67m to compete in other events while Lowe did not clear on her three attempts. Presigny would not return and finished third, but Hensley did return and, after two misses at the next height of 5-9.5 (1.72m), cleared the bar in her final attempt for the title.

Ajomale looked to defend his individual titles and did so without issue. However, his accomplishments also had national impact as well. In the 100m, the Olympian cruised to a 10.32 which bettered the next closest finisher by 0.37 and a season-best 10.94 from Craig Mattox in third. Ajomale later unleashed something no one had ever seen at the PacWest meet, the folks at the Point Loma Track & Field, or even across NCAA Division II this year. He dropped a 20.67 to automatically qualify for Nationals and firmly stand at No. 1 in the country.

Among the day's track event openers, Academy of Art also successfully defended its title in the men's 4x100m relay where Michane Ricketts joined Ajomale, Christian Carter, and Mattox for a time of 40.82. The time was nearly a full second faster than second place and put the quartet into 17th in the nation.

Multiple titles also went to Quinlan Wright who ended up individually scoring the more points for his team than any other athlete in the meet. He began the day by extending the ART U record in the high jump to 6-4.75 (1.95m) with a second-place finish at the meet. Not long after, he became the program's new record-holder in the 110m hurdles a smooth 14.40 effort that put him 18th in the country. As the prelims predicted, he would also earn the PacWest title in the 400m hurdles, surpassing Roman Skovronski for another school record in the process. His time of 51.82, his first ever sub-52.00, now has him all the way up to eighth in Division II.

The hurdle events were also big on the women's side as Presigny came away with the title in the 100mH. She would lower her season-best once again with a 13.86 in the finals to earn a sizeable margin for first and it was Hensley who added her own fastest time of the year (14.34) for third. Later in the 400mH, Presigny added a 1:01.79 mark that brought her six points and a spot on the podium in third place.

The 400m distance without the hurdles saw a huge breakthrough from Mistic Scott who earned the individual championship. After working for well over three years to run under 55.00, she accomplished the goal with a 54.98 in the finals, moving her into 12th in the country. Less than a second off her was Schae Graham's own lifetime best 55.58 in second place. That duo collectively gave the Knights 18 points.

In an impressive two-day effort, Folke Woch finished as the Heptathlon champion after taking no less than third in three events on Saturday. She was third in the long jump to start, second in the javelin, and ended up first in the 800m by more than a four-second margin with a lifetime-best 2:22.08. The leader after day one, Woch kept that position and scored 4817 points for the title. In the individual shot put, Woch finished sixth and scored with Briaunna Caver, who put up a career-best 108-10 (33.18m) in the heptathlon javelin. Caver became the program's new record-holder with more new territory, throwing 39-2 (11.94m) in her final attempt.

Defending her title in the triple jump, Rian Young-Werner needed just two legal attempts to take the win. Her second jump was just over 39 feet and helped her reach the event finals where she opened with a 39-8.25 (12.10m) which ended up holding for the victory. Young-Werner would nearly hit much further in her final attempt, but ended up fouling instead. Fellow jump squad teammate Hadiyah Muhammad also reached the final and captured fifth place with a 35-11 (10.95m) mark.

The men's triple jump saw Mattox score points with a runner-up finish. He advance from the prelims on his third attempt then, midway through the finals, jumped 45-4.75 (13.84m) for second overall.

Carter also put up points for ART U in the 400m where he reached the podium in third after a season-best 48.15.

A bronze medal was also earned by Giulia McIsaac in the 5000m run. She achieved a new lifetime best 17:37.32 to best 11 other runners in the event. The men's 5000m had two Knights make the podium with Pierre Fontanarosa coming in second sporting a 15:05.42 and Kris Everett following in third with a 15:07.12.

Fontanarosa had more points for Academy of Art earlier in the 1500m where he took fourth by way of a 3:53.22 mark. Kristian Martinez added one point as well with his sixth-place finish less than a second later at 3:53.91.

Working in tandem particularly early in the women's 800m, Beatriz Martinez Mercado and Ashley Brown both turned in scoring efforts for ART U. Martinez Mercado was fourth (2:11.86) while Brown's fifth-place finish featured a new personal best of 2:12.77. On the men's side of the 800m, Jarred Gregory-Grimes crossed the finish line in fifth at 1:55.39.

In addition to her jumping efforts, Young-Werner also stood on the podium following the 100m dash where her 12.13 time led her to third place. An incredibly tightly contested final had Young-Werner edge out third as the three through five positions were separated by just over one second. Jasmine Grace (12.138), who was part of that photo finish, shared fifth with Zoe Scott-Goss of Concordia.

Both Young-Werner and Grace were close in the women's 200m as well and this time it was with Scott. All three scored, but it was Scott who had fourth (24.49) followed by Grace in fifth (24.54) and Young-Werner in sixth (24.83). In seventh-place, Graham was not far off either at 24.99. None were with a legal wind unfortunately.