2020 Boston Last Chance Meet Results

BOSTON – Stellar performances were turned in by the Urban Knights throughout Friday at the Boston Last Chance Meet inside the Terriers' Track & Tennis Center. New program records came from Natalia Novak in the mile and the men's distance medley relay while several other NCAA Division II Indoor Nationals provisional marks emerged.

A truly impressive seven-second drop in her time made Novak the new ART U record-holder on Friday. Powered by strong second and third legs of her race, the Communications & Media Technologies major also closed quickly to produce a 4:48.25 time which bettered the 2013 record held by Jenny Bergren by nearly two full seconds. Up to eighth in the country, Novak jumped 14 other Nationals provisional qualifiers with the performance.

Combining for the fastest distance medley relay time in the Urban Knights' 12-year history, the team of Charlie Messai, Kaze Poitier, Rabah Houali, and James Young went 9:50.24 to surpass the previous record set earlier this season by more than four seconds. It marked the third time Academy of Art had put a DMR time among the top three in program history and rocketed the quartet up to fourth in DII.

Not one but two personal records came in the women's 200m where Ombretta Picciolie Minkue Meye and Darria Matthias each rose in the national rankings. Minkue Meye ascended some 20 spots to enter the country's top five with a 24.07 that put her second only to USTFCCCA Hall of Famer Vashti Thomas in program history in the event. Less than half a second behind her teammate, Matthias went 24.39 to move up to 11th in DII.

Absolutely on fire in all three of his races on Saturday, Grant Swinton began by running his best 400m time in an ART U uniform. Going 47.92 for a top-tier time on the day, the Communications & Media Technologies major rose to fourth program history as well as top 20 in NCAA Division II as a provisional qualifier. Not long after, Swinton turned in a 21.48 Nationals provisional in the 200m to take over the third spot in Urban Knights history and top 25 in country.

Swinton later joined Daquan Berry, Kaze Poitier, and Lennard Marshall for Academy of Art's top 4x400m time of the season and the program's first Indoor Nationals provisional qualifying time of the season. At 3:14.85, the quartet elevated to 15th in the country.

Breaking through in his 18th career 800m run at ART U, Joshua Browne went 1:52.49 on Friday. The personal record was nearly a full second better than his previous best set two weeks ago and put him into the nation's top 35 as an Indoor Nationals provisional qualifier.

The men's mile also saw a personal record as Hudson Lockette went 4:19.70 to better his previous best in the event by 16 seconds.

Tomorrow, Academy of Art will return to The Armory for its final regular season meet, the Armory Leap Year Invitational.