2024 Wendy's / Pittsburg State Invitational Results
PITTSBURG, Kan. – Academy of Art track & field closed out the month of January with several more nationally strong marks at the Wendy's / Pittsburg State Invitational inside the Robert W. Plaster Center throughout Saturday.
Leading the
No. 5 nationally-ranked women's team,
Marie-Jeanne Ourega could not be touched in both the prelims and final of the 60m hurdles. She began by offering an 8.51 to pace a prelim round that also saw
Yanique White just miss qualification to the final then Ourega matched her personal record of 8.49 to triumph over Angelo State's Maricia Spence (8.52) across the line and hold her fourth spot in the country as an NCAA Division II Indoor Nationals provisional qualifier.
Finished with the hurdles, Ourega continued to dominate in the triple jump where she notched her third individual victory of the season over three times competing in the event thus far. The Communications & Media Technologies major delivered a 41-3 (12.57m) distance on her fifth attempt to secure the top spot in the 18-jumper field. Ourega remains third in the nation with her season best of 41-5-5.75 (12.64m) coming earlier this month.
In his first opportunity to contest the 60m hurdles this season,
Robin Black went 8.11 to finish 10th of 49 competitors in the event prelims, debuting him among the country's top 30 as an Indoor Nationals provisional qualifier. The busy day of action also had Black claim the eighth spot of 27 with a 6.80 in the 60m dash prelims before ending sixth in the final at 6.78 just off his season best.
Black later could be found second overall in a 200m field of 48 total sprinters and first among those from NCAA institutions. His 21.45 mark came as a photo finish with Pitt State's Dapriest Hogans and came down to one-thousandth of a second as Black had the edge 21.442 to 21.444. Finally, Black teamed up with
Shareez Hamm,
Josh Marlin, and
Omodiaogbe Oboh for an impressive 4x400m relay time of 3:11.39 that was once again the best by an NCAA institution, ahead of Pitt State's quartet by 0.29 seconds, and fourth in NCAA DII to give Academy of Art now four marks that would be among the top nine.
A new personal and meet record emerged from the mile for
Katharina Goetschl who led for the race's entirety toward an eventual 4:53.35 mark. Goetschl finished first among the 48 competitors, logged an Indoor Nationals provisional qualification for the second consecutive week, held her top 30 position in the country, and bettered the meet record set by Emily Harris of Missouri Southern (4:53.75) in 2016.
Multiple Knights were among the top 10 finishers in both the women's 60m and 200m dash events as
Juvonna Cornette and
Toni-Ann Lindsay each reached the 60m final where their best times of the day, 7.43 and 7.61 respectively, earned them fourth and seventh place results. Their respective season-bests of 7.41 and 7.50 keep them inside the top 16 in the country. Meanwhile in the 200m, Cornette was again out in front, taking third of 55 competitors with her fastest time of the season at 24.49 taking her to 19th in the country as an Indoor Nationals provisional qualifier.
Lauryn James remains ahead of her teammate nationally in ninth (24.27) though was not far off on Saturday, ending at 24.85 across the finish line.
Lindsay, James,
Lina Hanich, and Cornette combined for ART U's fastest 4x400m relay time of the season, going 3:46.60 in a head-to-head matchup with Angelo State, Pitt State, Central Missouri and others. The quartet blazed to second of 24 teams overall, tying for seventh in the country as the second Indoor Nationals provisional mark for the Knights in the 2023-24 campaign.
Continuing to steadily move up the national ranks in the triple jump this season,
Yacouba Gnacko offered his best mark of the year on his first attempt of the day. He launched to 49-8.25 (15.14m) out of the gate and proceeded to battle Pitt State's Tre Betts for the top spot in the event the rest of the way. Gnacko ended second out of 24 total jumpers while elevating to ninth in the country.
Hanich made it three Indoor Nationals provisional marks in the 800m this season with a runner-up result to Pitt State's Kate Dawson and in front of 41 others on Saturday. Though Hanich's 2:11.13 time did not improve upon her nationally third-ranked 2:10.42, it would be fourth in the country this year. Just over one second back of Hanich,
Michaela Andrews did better her top mark of the year, going 2:12.28 with another Indoor Nationals provisional qualification that elevated her to 10th in NCAA DII.
February brings five more indoor meets beginning with the New Mexico Collegiate Classic on Feb. 2-3 in Albuquerque.
