2019 The College of New Jersey Lions Indoor Invitational Results
NEW YORK – Signing off on a very impressive weekend of track & field action in New York, Academy of Art track & field had five NCAA Division II provisional qualifying marks at The College of New Jersey Lions Indoor Invitational inside The Armory on Saturday.
One of the day's biggest highlights was none other than
Mobolade Ajomale. He began by matching his provisional time from the day prior with a 6.80 in the 60m prelims then came back to drop a 6.74 in the final to once again finish first overall. The time would settle in as the fastest in NCAA DII thus far.
Ajomale came back to produce another provisional mark in the 200m, lighting up the track for a 21.27 that was second only to Izaiah Brown of NCAA DI Rutgers at the meet. He will likely take over the second spot in the country in the event.
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Finally, Ajomale joined teammates
Christian Carter,
Rabah Houali, and
Roshard Williams in offering a Nationals provisional in the 4x400m relay with a 3:15.91 for second of 11 on the day and sixth in DII.
Palacio made it a meet to remember with his breakout performance in the triple jump. Making positive progressions through his first three attempts, the Communications & Media Technologies major soared to a lifetime-best 48-1.75 (14.67m) for not only a provisional qualifier among the top 15 in the nation, but also third in program history.
Carrying over her success from cross country,
Hasna Kaarour also provisionally qualified for Nationals with a 9:50.83 in the 3000m. She took first place out of 12 runners in the meet, debuts at second in Academy of Art history, and will likely find herself among Division II's top three thus far.
In his first time running in the event, Carter came away from the 500m with a new program record. He cut nearly four full seconds off the previous mark by going 1:03.47 and was second of 20 in the meet.
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Other notable performances came from ART U's distance crew in the mile as
Victor Moreau, Houali, and
Charlie Messai nearly crossed the finish line all at the same time. Out of the same heat, Moreau delivered a 4:14.15, Houali finished 4:14.33, and Messai came across at 4:14.57 for what would serve as the top three of 33 total competitors.
The women's 60m saw
Selena Arjona-Alcazar qualify from the prelims to the finals with an 8.00 for sixth of 35 initially before her 7.99 in the final earned her seventh overall.
It was a lifetime-best 57.43 for
Latavia Hawkins in the 400m that put her second of 40 competitors in the event on Saturday.
For its second weekend of action in 2019, Academy of Art will travel to Allendale, Michigan for the Grand Valley State Lints Alumni Meet on Jan. 19.
