Azusa Pacific and Academy of Art are expected to battle for the Pacific West Conference track and field title this spring, and the Cougars and Urban Knights split the first two women’s weekly awards for 2023. The Cougars’ Jaylah Walker is the Track Athlete of the Week after opening her outdoor season with a blistering time of 59.52 in the 400 meters, and ART U’s Marie-Jeanne Ourega posted national bests in both the long and triple jump to win Field Athlete of the Week.
2023 Results/Schedule
TFRRS Event Lists
TRACK ATHLETE OF THE WEEK: Azusa Pacific’s Jaylah Walker, Sr., Riverside, Calif.
APU’s
Jaylah Walker ran her first 400 hurdles event of the year in San Diego last weekend, and wasted no time clicking off a sizzling time of 59.52. The mark is tops in NCAA Division II in the early season listings. Walker, the 2021 NCAA champion in the event, also ran on the Cougar 4x100 relay team which crossed the line on the Point Loma track in 46.05, the third best time in the country to date. The southern California native set the Pacific West Conference Championships meet records last spring in both the 100 hurdles (13.38) and the 400 hurdles (58.79).
FIELD ATHLETE OF THE WEEK: Academy of Art’s Marie-Jeanne Ourega, Soph., L`Hay-les-Roses, France
Just one week after winning the national championship in the long jump at the NCAA Indoor Nationals,
Marie-Jeanne Ourega posted two marks for the rest of the country to chase outdoors. At the Cardinal Classic, Ourega went 20-6 ¼ in the long jump and soared 40-2 ¾ in the triple jump, both No. 1 on the early spring NCAA list. The USTFCCCA (coaches track and cross country association) recognized the sophomore’s work as well by naming the France native as the National Track Athlete of the Week. Her long jump mark landed her first against Division I competitors at the Stanford meet and it was also just three-quarters of an inch off the meet record. Her LJ mark is the best in D2 by eight inches and her TJ listing is tops by three inches.
PACWEST NEWS AND NOTES: There were a number of good marks last weekend as PacWest teams got their feet wet, literally at meets in San Diego, at Stanford, Sacramento and Chico. Azusa Pacific’s
Hannah Richardson moved up to No. 2 on the NCAA national list in the shot put with a heave of 47-0 ½…Fresno Pacific’s
Nikki Crouch placed second at Fresno State’s Bulldog Classic in the pole vault with a NCAA provisional clearing of 12-5 ¼ (3.79)…Sunbird teammate
Madison Flores had a provisional time of 54.21 in the 400 meters…
Britta Holmberg of Biola put herself fifth on the NCAA D-II steeplechase list with a time of 11:12.29…ART U’s
Selena Arjona-Alcazar ran a sizzling 23.84 in the 200 meters, second best in the country to date, and she then anchored the Urban Knight 4x100 relay team to a time of 46.28, fourth in the NCAA…APU’s
Esther Conde-Turpin posted the fastest 100 hurdles time (13.60) in D2 this season.
NATIONAL INDOOR WRAP: At the NCAA Division II National Indoor Championships in Virginia Beach,
Azusa Pacific climbed the podium with a fourth place finish as a team. Individually,
Nicole Warwick won the pentathlon with 4,066 points, the second highest total in APU history. This comes five years after Warwick first won the pentathlon national championship in 2018.
Alysa Henry was third in the same event for the Cougars with 3,964 points. APU's
Esther Conde-Turpin also earned All-American honors in the 60 meter hurdles with a third place crossing (8.27) and
Alayna Verner did the same with a sixth place finish in the 400 meters (54.90). The Cougars also earned All-American honors in the 4x400 relay in fifth (3:44.66).
Academy of Art had a national champion in
Marie-Jeanne Ourega, who claimed the long jump gold medal (20-9 ¾) and then also finished fourth in the triple jump (42-0 ¾). ART U’s
Selena Arjona-Alcazar is also an All-American after finishing seventh in the 200 meters with a clocking of 24.01.
LOOKING AHEAD: This coming weekend (March 24-25), PacWest teams will compete at Cal Poly SLO, CS San Marcos, Concordia and Point Loma.