Tyson Invitational Results (Day 1)
Indoor Gorilla Classic Results (Day 1)

Friday saw several more impressive marks for Academy of Art track & field as the Urban Knights split time across Arkansas' Tyson Invitational and Pitt State's Indoor Gorilla Classic.

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Only Marie-Jeanne Ourega was in action at the Tyson Invitational on Friday, but she had a memorable day of personal records.

In addition to matching both her season and career-best in with an 8.78 in the 60m hurdles, Ourega delivered the best indoor long jump of her young career. Finishing third out of a 34-jumper field loaded with NCAA Division I talent, the Communications & Media Technologies major was one of nine event finalists after a 20-7 (6.27m) on her third attempt. She saved her personal best for last, however, as her sixth try saw her go 20-8.5 (6.31m), bringing her ever closer to University of Colorado-Colorado Springs' Hannah Meek's 20-10.75 (6.37m) mark that leads the nation as well as multi-time Hall of Famer Vashti Thomas' 21-3.25 (6.48m) program record.

PITTSBURG, Kan. – ART U sprinters and distance runners alike were in action throughout the first day of the Indoor Gorilla Classic on Friday with Selena Arjona-Alcazar's 200m, Audrey Rosencrans' 5000m, and the women's distance medley relay among the highlights.

Running against two of the country's top seven in the 200m coming in, Arjona-Alcazar continued her tremendous progression with a time of 24.34 good for fourth of 81 on the day. The new personal record elevated her to now fifth in NCAA DII and was a blink of an eye behind event winner Christine Williams of Pitt State and third-place Jaylah Walker of Azusa Pacific.

The women's DMR featured the combined efforts of Delanie Dykes, Alice Coisne, Lina Hanich, and Natalia Novak in one of the best performances the program has seen. Going 11:39.45, the quartet led all 19 squads in the event and finished just 0.27 off of the ART U record as well as sixth in NCAA DII, a four-spot improvement from the Knights' previous provisional qualification.

"Marie-Jeanne and the women's DMR set the tone for the weekend with season-best performances," said Director of Track & Field/Cross Country Kevin LaSure. "Delanie, Alice and Lina did a great job on the DMR putting Natalia out front and she closed us out well in the event as she has so often."

Challenging 46 other runners in the 5000m, Rosencrans walked away as the event's runner-up with a new ART U program record of 17:30.09. The mark bettered the previous top time by more than 18 seconds and was a nearly 40-second improvement from her previous best.

"Audrey closed us out with a great performance, breaking the school record in the 5000m and improving on her personal best by an amazing 40+ seconds," LaSure said.

Season-bests came for both Ajani Ince and Daquan Berry in the 60m on Friday. Ince posted a 7.00 mark to take 25th out of 88 sprinters while came across the finish line at 7.05. Later on in the evening, Ince added his fastest 200m to date, going 22.20 to finish in the middle of a 79-competitor field.

"Ajani and Daquan came away with season-bests in the 60m," LaSure said. "While there are many things to improve upon in the event, you have to appreciate improvement from week to week."

Academy of Art will continue its split weekend with a full day of action back at the Tyson Invitational and Indoor Gorilla Classic tomorrow.