USTFCCCA National Athletes of the Week (Mar. 21)
PacWest Athletes of the Week (Mar. 22)

NEW ORLEANS / IRVINE, Calif. – One week after becoming the Indoor Long Jump National Champion, Academy of Art track & field's Marie-Jeanne Ourega garnered more national recognition for her impressive start in the outdoor horizontal jumps, being named NCAA Division II National Athlete of the Week by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association on Tuesday. Then, on Wednesday, she would be selected as PacWest Field Athlete of the Week for her efforts.

At Stanford's Cardinal Classic on Mar. 18, Ourega began with a 20-6.25 (6.25m) in the long jump (three quarters of an inch off the meet record set by Florida State's Jogaile Petrokaite), bettering the Outdoor Nationals provisional standard by 1-4.5 (0.42m) to out-perform competitors from NCAA Division I Cal, Hawaii, and Stanford among others. The Communications & Media Technologies major rose to first in NCAA DII by eight inches (0.20m).

In the triple jump a short time later, Ourega flew past the provisional standard by one foot (0.30m) with her best mark of the day at 40-2.75 (12.26m) on her second attempt. Again up against NCAA DI opponents, the L'Haÿ-les-Roses, France placed seventh in the competition and became one of three to provisionally qualify for Outdoor Nationals this season, ranking first overall by three and a half inches (0.09m).

This is the third USTFCCCA DII National Athlete of the Week honor for Ourega in her career (she was selected once in 2022 and once in 2021), tying her with multi-time Hall of Famer Vashti Thomas for the most by a member of Academy of Art women's track & field. This is the first PacWest Field Athlete of the Week honor of the season for Ourega and the fifth in her career.