USTFCCCA National Athletes of the Week (Apr. 5)
PacWest Weekly Awards (Apr. 5)

NEW ORLEANS / IRVINE, Calif. – New records and top NCAA Division II marks resulted in multiple weekly honors for a trio of Urban Knights on Tuesday. For her impressive performances in the long jump and 100m hurdles, the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association selected Marie-Jeanne Ourega as DII National Athlete of the Week while the Pacific West Conference also honored her as the Women's Field Athlete of the Week. Sweeping the men's PacWest awards, Mathieu Tshani earned Field Athlete of the Week and Saba Khvichava was named Track Athlete of the Week.

Demonstrating her elite versatility at the Stanford Invitational on Apr. 1, Academy of Art track & field's Marie-Jeanne Ourega delivered some of the country's top marks in both the 100m hurdles and long jump less than an hour apart. Ourega rose to the top spot in NCAA DII in the long jump by nearly a full foot, posting her best mark of the season at 21-1.25 (6.43m) in her second attempt and, in addition to leading the 11-jumper field, she took over the first position in the country and became eighth among all collegians this season.

Behind only NCAA DI talent in the 100m hurdles final, Ourega finished with a time of 13.75 which matched her personal record and was strong enough to take her to No. 2 the nation as a provisional qualifier for Outdoor Nationals.

"Marie-Jeanne has really been the rock for our women's team and she continues to put up big performances week in and week out," said Director of Track & Field/Cross Country Kevin LaSure. "Coach [Nkosinza] Balumbu has done a great job with her over the past two years and she's still improving."

Tshani made a big splash at the Stanford Invitational, posting the best mark in both NCAA DII and school history in the triple jump as well as taking a place among the top 10 in all divisions thus far in 2022. Battling a predominately NCAA Division I field on Apr. 2, the final day of the Stanford, Tshani secured the first position on his third attempt though he saved his best for last, going 52-1.75 (15.89m) on his sixth try to leave the Academy of Art record behind. Besting the previous top mark among Urban Knights by more than two and a half inches, Tshani's Outdoor Nationals provisional was also first in NCAA DII by more than nine inches.

"Mathieu put some big jumps together in the triple jump this weekend," LaSure said. "He's really starting to show all of the work he and Coach [Nkosinza] Balumbu have been putting in these last few months."

On the first day of the Mike Fanelli Track Classic (Mar. 31), Khvichava made his highly anticipated debut in the 3000m steeplechase. At 9:00.01, he finished as the third-fastest collegiate competitor in a field of 32 total runners. In addition to starting his ART U career in the event at second in program history, he was more than 13 seconds faster than the provisional standard and put himself eighth in the country during this early part of the outdoor season. 

"It was great to see Saba get a chance to compete within his comfort zone in the steeplechase," LaSure said. "I know Coach [Bruce] Jackson is extremely excited about Saba's potential in the event nationally. So it was great to see him open up with a big personal best in the event his first time out with our program."

This is the second USTFCCCA DII National Athlete of the Week honor for Ourega in her career (she was selected once in 2021), putting her one back of multi-time Hall of Famer Vashti Thomas whose three selections are the most by a member of Academy of Art women's track & field. It is her first PacWest Field Athlete of the Week honor of the season and third in her career while Tshani and Khvichava each earn the first PacWest track & field weekly honors of their respective careers.