2022 USTFCCCA Indoor Regional Award Winners

NEW ORLEANS – Punctuating an impressive indoor season for Academy of Art track & field, one student-athlete and one coach garnered regional recognition as announced by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) on Friday. Indoor West Region selections featured Marie-Jeanne Ourega as Women's Field Athlete of the Year while Director of Track & Field/Cross Country Kevin LaSure was awarded Men's Coach of the Year.

In his seventh year with ART U, LaSure was once again the West Region's Coach of the Year following a 17th place finish for the men's team at Indoor Nationals. After the squad collected 16 USTFCCCA All-Region selections, seven All-American First Team trophies would be hoisted in the final meet of the season with five points coming from a fourth place finish for the 4x400m relay. The six Urban Knights to qualify for Nationals were the most in the West Region and emerged from a total of six marks among the top-20 national rankings during the regular season.

Dominating the West Region jumps scene since her collegiate debut last season, Ourega was responsible for 14 of her team's 27 points at Indoor Nationals with 13 of those coming in the horizontal jumps. The L'Haÿ-les-Roses, France native was runner-up in the long jump and third in the triple jump to exit the indoor finale as a nine-time All-American in her career.

The indoor season was highlighted by seven first place finishes and two personal records for Ourega, a three-time 2022 All-Region honoree, who went 20-8.5 (6.31m) in the long jump at the Tyson Invitational on Feb. 11 to put herself second in program history only to multi-time Hall of Famer Vashti Thomas. At Nationals, her third consecutive personal record in the triple jump, 41-8 (12.70m) settled her at second in ART U history, passing Thomas in the process.

This is the sixth West Region Indoor Coach of the Year honor in LaSure's career (2021, 2019, 2017, 2016) and the third USTFCCCA Regional Athlete of the Year selection for Ourega in her career after she earned ones for indoor and outdoor in 2021.