2023 USTFCCCA Outdoor Regional Award Winners

NEW ORLEANS – Following an outdoor season that impressed with another individual NCAA Division II National Champion and the 13th top-10 finish to date for the men's program, Academy of Art track & field had one student-athlete and one coach earn regional recognition as announced by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) on Monday. Outdoor West Region selections featured Marie-Jeanne Ourega as Field Athlete of the Year on the women's side while Director of Track & Field/Cross Country Kevin LaSure was awarded Men's Coach of the Year.

Enthusiastically signaling her fourth career National Championship upon exiting the long jump pit at Outdoor Nationals, Ourega would go on to finish her 2023 campaign as an 18-time All-American. Opening the outdoor season with one of what would be three first-place finishes across the horizontal jumps, the Communications & Media Technologies major could be found among the NCAA DII leaders throughout the year. She ended the regular season third in the long jump, after a season-best 20-9 (6.32m) at the APU Franson Last Chance on May 12, and fourth in the triple jump, after a season-best 42-0.5 (12.81m) early on at the Stanford Invitational on Apr. 1 (she was first or second regionally in the two events). The PacWest Triple Jump Champion, one-time USTFCCCA DII National Outdoor Athlete of the Week, and two-time PacWest Field Athlete of the Week (Mar. 22, Apr. 5) then proceeded to win the outdoor long jump for the third consecutive season on her farthest mark of the year at 21-2.5 (6.46m) before wrapping up with a fifth-place result in the triple jump.

In his eighth year with ART U, LaSure was the West Region Coach of the Year following a ninth-place finish for the men at Outdoor Nationals (highest in the region by four places), the program's fifth time among the top 10 in the outdoor finale since 2018. It was a memorable end to the year as 10 All-American trophies would be hoisted in the final meet of the season. A total of five new program records (including the sixth-fastest 4x400m relay in NCAA DII history), PacWest Champions in six events, the PacWest Track & Field Athletes of the Year plus the PacWest Most Outstanding Track Athlete of the Meet, and one national weekly award helped push the Urban Knights to 25 Outdoor Nationals provisional qualifications during the regular season.

This is the fifth USTFCCCA Regional Athlete of the Year selection for Ourega in her career after she previously earned ones for indoor and outdoor in 2022 as well as indoor and outdoor in 2021. It is specifically the first West Region Men's Outdoor Coach of the Year honor in LaSure's career (10th overall combining the men's and women's sides) as he swept the men's honors across indoor and outdoor in 2023.