2021 NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field National Championships Results

ALLENDALE, Mich. – Starting an exciting finale to the NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field National Championships, Academy of Art's James Young showed incredible determination en route to capturing the 1500m national title on Saturday. A grand total of nine other Urban Knights visited the podium at Grand Valley State's Lacrosse & Track Stadium as All-Americans emerged from the men's 4x400m, the women's 4x100m, women's 100m hurdles, and the women's 1500m.

Coming in as the NCAA DII National Champion in the indoor mile, Young quickly moved to the front of Saturday's 1500m pack some 30 seconds from the opening gun. He relinquished that lead briefly to American International's Benoit Champion just prior to the three-minute mark, but was back in front roughly 20 seconds later as final kicks began. Down the final straightaway, Young still held a multi-stride advantage, but Concordia-St. Paul's Benjamin Allen was suddenly on his heels despite being in seventh at 1100m. Shoulder to shoulder with the finish line steps away, an incredible dive by Young pushed him barely across first with a time of 3:52.95 that bested Allen's 3:52.96 by 0.01 seconds.

"It definitely wasn't a pretty one, but I'm just relieved I managed to get the job done," Young said. "It was a different challenge going in as the fastest seeded, which I've never been before. I felt pretty comfortable going into the home straight, but got a shock when my legs just stopped moving. Then it was a matter of just hoping the finish line would come a lot quicker than it did, but it eventually did."

Competing in the first of two men's 4x400m final heats, Academy of Art remained either first or second throughout the duration of the race. It began with Makarios Page who, after gaining on Angelo State's Nathan Blackwell, overtook him as the handoff came to Omodiaogbe Oboh. Much like they did in their preliminary heat, both Oboh and Shareez Hamm steadily maintained the Urban Knights' lead, but Grand Valley State made its push as the handoff came to their anchor Daniel Walker versus Hamm's pass to Elliot Slade. Slade stayed just over Walker's shoulder for the entirety of the final 400m, but the Lakers would end up taking the top time by 0.03. Nevertheless, ART U's final mark of 3:10.12 was second in program history and wound up earning the quartet fourth overall following a fast second heat.

Opening the women's session on the track, Academy of Art sent the quartet of Ombretta Picciolie Minkue Meye, Darria Matthias, Selena Arjona-Alcazar, and Marie-Jeanne Ourega to contest the final of the 4x100m relay. Finding themselves a few steps back of the leader at the final exchange, ART U hung tough with a strong anchor leg and delivered a 45.78, just 0.03 seconds off the Knights' season-best, for what became seventh place overall.

In a women's 100m hurdles final that saw all eight sub-14.00 times, Ourega came across the finish line with a new season-best 13.75 for fifth place. Concluding her freshman season with Academy of Art as a six-time All-American (four coming this week with the long jump national title and a sixth place finish in the triple jump), Ourega ended with 17.5 points scored for her team.

The first All-American honor of Natalia Novak's ART U outdoor career came in the 1500m final where she remained among the top eight of a 12-competitor field the entire way. Sitting sixth 700m into the race, the Communications & Media Technologies major held off Seattle Pacific's Dania Holmberg and three others by more than two seconds, crossing at 4:23.19 for eighth overall and an All-American trophy.

A little over two hours after her effort in the 4x100m relay, Matthias ran 24.30 in the final of the 200m dash. She would take ninth overall, missing a spot on the podium by 0.20 seconds.

Placing tied with Fort Hays State for 17th overall as a team, the ART U men's squad collected 15 points and had its fifth-best result at Outdoor Nationals in program history. In front of American International and Concordia-St. Paul by a single point, the Urban Knights had the top finish out of the West Region, bettering fellow Pacific West Conference rival and 35th-place Azusa Pacific by eight points.

Collecting a total of 20 points over the three-day meet, the Academy of Art women's team finished 12th overall for its highest finish since memorably winning the 2013 national championship in its first season eligible to do so. ART U, second among West Region representatives, would beat out Northwest Missouri and Tiffin by a single point for the spot.