2021 Indoor Gorilla Classic Results

PITTSBURG, Kan. – A strong final day of the 6th Annual Indoor Gorilla Classic saw Academy of Art track & field walk away with three more NCAA Division II Indoor Nationals provisional qualifiers on Saturday. Elliot Slade and Marie-Jeanne Ourega each finished out their impressive debuts as Urban Knights with a provisional plus a new program record in the 800m and provisional in the triple jump respectively while James Young came close to his ART U record mile time with another provisional inside the Robert W. Plaster Center.

"It was great to get back to competing after almost a year," said Director of Track & Field/Cross Country Kevin LaSure. "Overall, everyone competed hard and, while we still have a lot of work to do as a team having only been training at full capacity for the past three weeks, there were some exceptional performances from our team this weekend. We are all extremely grateful to be able to be back out there doing what we all love."

Running his first 800m race in an Academy of Art uniform, Slade jumped out to an initial lead, remained at the front of the pack, then made his move to separate from Pitt State's Matt Wilson down the stretch on his way to a 1:50.89 mark that bettered the previous record by almost a full second. The time provisionally qualified him for Indoor Nationals and slotted him at ninth in NCAA DII thus far.

Fellow contributor to the program's record-breaking and automatic qualifying distance medley relay from the night prior with Slade, Young picked up right where he left off with a 4:05.06 effort one day removed from his 4:04.14 record one year prior. Saturday's mark earned Young a provisional qualification to Indoor Nationals, starting him at eighth among NCAA DII student-athletes to date.

"In his debut, Elliot Slade had a great weekend with his first 800m race two great relay legs on both the DMR and the 4x400," said LaSure. "James Young ran a great first open mile of the season, with a performance that ranks him top 10 nationally in the event. He ran a really smart race and executed the plan Coach Steve Fuelling put together for him in the the open mile and the anchor leg of the DMR on Friday night. Coach Fuelling really has those guys rolling and what he has been able to get those guys to accomplish with all of the adjustments we've had to make is nothing short of amazing. Coach Fuelling and Coach Bruce Jackson really have our middle-distance and distance groups performing at a really high level right now and that's a testament to the work they've all put in and the way those student-athletes believe."

For the second consecutive day, Ourega simply dominated the horizontal jumps. Coming off her Indoor Nationals provisional in the long jump, the L'Haÿ-les-Roses, France native added a second qualification with the best triple jump of the meet at 40-3.5 (12.28m). First of the 17 jumpers on Saturday, Ourega ascended to fourth in NCAA DII to give her top four marks in both events.

"Marie-Jeanne had a great first meet of her career here at ART U with performances that currently rank top five nationally in the long jump and triple jump," LaSure said. "Coach Nkosinza Balumbu has done a great job getting her ready over the past few weeks after a long layoff."

In her mile debut, Natalia Novak competed in the best heat of the day and held the lead for much of the way. A late push by Oklahoma Baptist's Emma Downing earned her the win, but Novak pushed her streak of five consecutive sub-five-minute miles with a 4:58.51 mark less than 0.2 from provisional qualification.

The women's 60m dash saw Darria Matthias qualify through the prelims and take seventh in the finals with a 7.88. On the men's sprints side, Omodiaogbe Oboh went 49.67 in his first 400m for ART U following his effort in the DMR the previous night.

Slade and Oboh were both part of the day's finale in the men's 4x400m relay where they teamed with Shareez Hamm and Makarios Page for a 3:18.92 time that was two seconds off making them provisional qualifiers for Indoor Nationals.