2024 Pacific West Conference Championships Results (Day 1)

MONTECITO, Calif. – A pair of champions highlighted Academy of Art track & field's first of two days at the Pacific West Conference Championships as Marie-Jeanne Ourega and Katharina Goetschl dominated the long jump and 3000m steeplechase respectively at Westmont Track & Thorrington Field on Friday. In an opening day of impressive marks, both Ourega and Goetschl joined Lauryn James (100m) and Juvonna Cornette (200m) in achieving new stadium records while Goetschl walked away with a new meet record as well.

The women's long jump was practically over after one round of attempts as Ourega flew to a distance of 20-7 (6.27m) to not only break the stadium record, but lead the competition the rest of the way. Her season-best mark on her opening try earned her a third title across the past four years and pushed her up to second in NCAA Division II as an Outdoor Nationals provisional qualifier.

Goetschl was the last Urban Knight in action on Friday and she went out with quite an exclamation mark as she successfully defended her 3000m steeplechase title with a time of 10:30.12 at the finish line. Never looking back after an initial lead, the Industrial Design major not only bested the meet record by more than six seconds, she also ended with a 16-second cushion in front of the next closest finisher.

Scoring the first points for ART U's men in the meet, Yacouba Gnacko finished fourth of 14 in the long jump. After reaching the final with a 23-4 (7.11m) on his second attempt, he bettered that mark twice more, ultimately ending with a best of 23-5.25 (7.14m) on his fifth trip down the runway. 

The prelims of the women's 100m dash featured quite a first impression for James who debuted with a stadium of 11.44 to win her heat by a healthy margin. The wind-legal time had her first of 18 competitors, qualifying James to the final alongside Cornette (11.50) and Toni-Ann Lindsay (11.63) who took second and fifth respectively. Lindsay's season-best time tied her for fifth in ART U history and elevated her to 18th in NCAA DII among Outdoor Nationals provisional qualifiers.

Cornette swapped places with James in the 200m dash prelims, leading the 20-runner field at 23.17 to not only break another stadium record, but also rise to second in Academy of Art history as well as fourth in the country this season. James' 23.31 was also a season-best and took her to fourth historically among Urban Knights plus sixth in the nation while Lindsay (24.17) made ART U a perfect 3-for-3 in terms of first-place finishes out of the event's preliminary heats.

Each winning their respective 400m prelim heats, Josh Marlin and Omodiaogbe Oboh secured the top two spots out of 17 overall. Marlin's 47.92 was a new personal record while Oboh came through a literal 100th of a second later at 47.93. Marlin would also pace the field in the 400m hurdles prelims, going 53.94 while Shareez Hamm got himself into Saturday's final by winning the event's opening heat.

Ajani Ince was one of three heat winners in the 100m dash prelims, qualifying to the final with a 10.46 time that had him second of 18 on the day. Emmanuel Ajiroba narrowly missed qualification but did join Ince in making the 200m final as the pair claimed second and third overall out of the prelims.

The women's 800m prelim was led by Lina Hanich as her 2:13.18 time put her nearly four full seconds ahead of the next closest finisher, Azusa Pacific's Camacho, who barely ended in front of Michaela Andrews in third. Both Hanich and Andrews comfortably led their heat, ending inside the top three of 16. On the men's side, Vaughn Lacour also reached the 800m final, taking the final qualifying spot.

The PacWest Championships will conclude tomorrow once again at Westmont Track & Thorrington Field.