2020 USTFCCCA NCAA Division II Indoor Track & Field All-Americans

NEW ORLEANS – After deliberation following the cancellation of the NCAA Division II Indoor Track & Field National Championships due to the COVID-19 pandemic, seven members of the Academy of Art team were named Indoor All-Americans as announced by the nation's foremost track and field organization on Tuesday.

Due to the cancellation of the NCAA Division II Indoor Track & Field Championships, the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Executive Committee adopted criteria based on the posted startlist for the national championships announced by the NCAA. For individual events, all student-athletes on the startlist were included and, for relay events, the four student-athletes per anticipated relay who produced the performance that was declared and accepted into their event were included. No distinction of First Team or Second Team was included with this year's recognitions.

In her second year with the program, Ombretta Picciolie Minkue Meye reached a level very few Urban Knights have before her. Out of more than 16 rounds of the 60m, Minkue Meye broke through for her best effort, a 7.50, at the Hillsdale Wide Track Classic (Feb. 8). That mark ended up ninth overall in the country, but the Communications & Media Technologies major would finish even higher in the 200m. By way of a 24.07 that came at the Boston Last Chance Meet (Feb. 28), she settled in at seventh heading into Nationals. She ended the regular season second in program history in both events behind 11-time All-American and USTFCCCA Hall of Famer Vashti Thomas only.

Sprinting alongside Minkue Meye in numerous races this season, Darria Matthias also enjoyed quite a bit of success. After running a 7.60 or better on five occasions of the 60m in 2020, the Fashion Styling major ended with her best performance of the year, going 7.56 at the Armory Leap Year Invitational (Feb. 29). Among the nation's top 20 with that effort, Matthias ended 17th overall in the 200m as well. Consistently posting times under 25.00 in her final three dates of competition, she again saved her best 200m for last as she turned in a season-best 24.39 one day prior to her 60m time at the BU Last Chance Meet (Feb. 28).

A junior transfer from California Baptist, Natalia Novak began her ART U career by earning All-PacWest First Team honors in cross country to set her up for a record-breaking indoor track & field season. Over the course of six times contesting the mile across January and February, the Communications & Media Technologies major progressed tremendously, steadily dropping more than 25 seconds from her first to her most recent at the Boston Last Chance Meet (Feb. 28) where she bested Jenny Bergren's 2013 record (4:50.03) with a 4:48.25. Her mark was first in the West Region and eighth in NCAA DII.

Like Novak, James Young made an immediate impact upon arriving at Academy of Art, earning PacWest Newcomer of the Year and All-PacWest First Team in cross country. That momentum has carried into the track season where, in just his second mile of 2020, the Advertising major broke the program record exactly four years after Valentin Pepiot's 4:06.85 in 2016. At the GVSU Big Meet (Feb. 14), the Blyth, England native proceeded to drop more than two seconds below that mark, going 4:04.14 for what ended as the best mile in the West Region (sixth in NCAA DII).

Capping a string of the three fastest distance medley relay times in the history of the men's program over the final week of the regular season, the team of Charlie Messai, Kaze Poitier, Rabah Houali, and the aforementioned Young combined for the program record (9:50.24) at the BU Last Chance Meet (Feb. 28). First in the West Region, the mark ended up seventh in NCAA DII following the third-fastest mark in ART U history (9:55.91) at the GVSU Big Meet (Feb. 15).

In each of their respective careers, these were the fourth and fifth All-American honors for Minkue Meye, third and fourth for Matthias, first and second for Young, and first for Novak, Messai, Poitier, and Houali.