2024 Spokane Indoor Challenge Results (Day 1)
2024 Spokane Sports Showcase Results
In action for the first time in 2024, Academy of Art track & field contested a pair of meets, the Spokane Indoor Challenge and the Spokane Sports Showcase, both inside The Podium on Friday evening.
SPOKANE, Wash. – ART U's light first day in the Spokane Indoor Challenge was highlighted by the country's fastest time and a NCAA Division II Indoor Nationals provisional qualification from the women's distance medley relay.
The quartet of
Lina Hanich,
Erine Collard,
Michaela Andrews, and
Katharina Goetschl challenged four other NCAA DI programs, Gonzaga, Hawaii, Montana, and San Jose State, in the distance medley relay and bested them all by more than 12 seconds, combining to finish at 11:50.82 across the line. First in NCAA DII overall as Indoor Nationals provisional qualifiers, the effort was capped by Goetschl's 4:55.94 split in the 1600m anchor leg which helped the team post its fastest mark since
Mar. 11, 2022 when the program record was set at Indoor Nationals by a foursome that also featured Hanich and Collard.
In the men's high jump, two Urban Knights placed among the top five finishers as
Elijah Roberts matched his personal record of 6-6.75 (2.00m) as runner-up to the event winner, Patrick Kremer of Montana. Meanwhile,
Jason Bayindoula began his ART U career with a clearance of 6-4.75 (1.95m), debuting at third on the program's all-time list.
SPOKANE, Wash. – Academy of Art lined up against several NCAA Division I opponents and emerged with numerous Indoor Nationals provisional qualifications from the Spokane Sports Showcase.
Improving upon his 400m debut time last December,
Shareez Hamm put himself fourth of nine primarily NCAA Division I competitors with a season-best 48.31. The effort rose him to 11th in NCAA DII in just his second time competing in the event in 2023-24 and made him an Indoor Nationals provisional qualifier.
Ajani Ince cut nearly a full 0.40 off his first 200m of the season, taking fourth of 24 sprinters in the 200m with a final time of 21.47. The Indoor Nationals provisional mark and personal record for Ince slotted eighth in NCAA DII while elevating him to fourth in program history.
Both Hamm and Ince would combine with
Omodiaogbe Oboh and
Robin Black to produce the fourth-fastest time in NCAA DII thus far, a 3:13.79 mark across the finish line, as Indoor Nationals provisional qualifiers and second to just NCAA DI Washington State's quartet in the race.
On the women's side,
Marie-Jeanne Ourega won the long jump, topping Stanford's Teagan Zwaanstra along with 28 other competitors. Ourega saved her best jump for second-to-last as she went 19-5.5 (5.93m) for the win.
Academy of Art will return to The Podium tomorrow to conclude the Spokane Indoor Challenge.
