UMBC’s Izudun Mehmedovic (Columbia, Md./Oakland Mills) and Albany’s Alyssa Lotmore (Albany, N.Y./Bishop Maginn) have been named America East Men’s and Women’s Indoor Track Performers of the week. Albany’s Ray Gilman (Altamont, N.Y./Berne-Knox-Weterlo), UMBC’s Mike Zyvoloski (Elkridge, Md./Long Reach), are this week’s Men’s Field Performers of the Week while Albany’s Arina Gerasimova (Zaporizhzhya, Ukraine/Gen. Specialized School #59) and UMBC’s Katrina Nathaniel (LaPlata, Md./LaPlata) earn the honor on the women’s side. The awards were announced Tuesday (January 10). (Week Three recap)
Mehmedovic won the 3,000m run last week at the Bucknell Gulden Relays. Mehmedovic, who won the 3,000m run at the same meet last year, torched the field with a time of 8:33.25, finishing more than four seconds a head of second place. Mehmedovic’s time is also more than four seconds better than his best time in the 3,000m run from last year.
Lotmore won the women’s mile run at the Fordham Kickoff Invitational on Jan. 6. She was one of only two runners to break the five-minute mark in the race, finishing with a time of 4:59.03, .83 seconds better than her nearest competitor. The next day, she anchored the women’s 4x800 relay at Army’s Carlton Crowell Open, an event the team won. The ECAC-qualifying time of 9:20.92 was more than a minute faster than the second-place team.
Gilman turned in a first-place showing in the high jump at Army’s Carlton Crowell Open on Jan. 7 with a leap of 6’4.75”. It was his first win in the event as a collegian, and he bested his nearest competitor by two inches. He was also the top Albany finisher in the triple jump at Army with a leap of 44’7”.
Zyvoloski is 2-for-2 this season in the weight throw competition after winning his second first-place finish of the season at the Bucknell Gulden Relays. Zyvoloski recorded a mark of 57’84” (17.63m), out distancing second place by over two feet. Zyvoloski’s mark set a new season high for him after recording a mark of 56’9.5” (17.31m) to win the weight throw event at the Bucknell Bison Open on Dec. 7, 2005. Zyvoloski, who’s mark in the opening meet of the season qualified him for the IC4A meet.
Gerasimova, the defending America East indoor triple jump champion, won the event at Army’s Carlton Crowell Open last weekend. Her ECAC-qualifying jump of 39’5.25” was an indoor personal best and half a foot off the school record. Gerasimova’s performance bested her nearest competitor by more than four feet.
Nathaniel set a new UMBC school mark in the high jump after placing second last weekend at the Bucknell Gulden Relays. Nathaniel crossed over the bar at 5’51” (1.68m), breaking the former UMBC women’s indoor track record of 5’50” she set in 2003. Nathaniel last month at the Bucknell Bison Open finished third in the high jump in 5’25”, besting that by 0.26 feet. Nathaniel, who also competed as the lead runner on the fifth place 1,600m Sprint Medley Relay and the eighth place 4x400m relay team, came 0.07 feet from first place in the high jump at the meet.