University of Hartford’s Chris Spivey (Hyde Park, Mass./Concord Carlisle), Albany’s Junior Burnett (St. Elizabeth, Jamaica/Black River) and Albany’s Jessica Ortman (Williamsville, N.Y./Wiliamsville South) have been named America East Men’s and Women’s Indoor Track Performers of the Week. UMBC’s Mike Zyvoloski (Elkridge, Md./Long Reach), Katrina Nathaniel (LaPlata, Md./LaPlata) and Albany’s Jillian Sherman (Albany, N.Y./Academy of the Holy Names) are this week’s Men’s and Women’s America East Indoor Field Performers of the Week. The awards were announced Tuesday (January 24). (Week Four recap)
Spivey led the Hawks with a first place finish in the 55-meter dash, while setting a new school record in the meantime. Spivey originally broke the school record during the preliminaries of the event with a time of 6.49, finishing second overall. He then ran a time of 6.40 in the finals and took home individual honors, helping to lead his team to a seventh place overall finish and ahead of three state schools, Central Connecticut, Quinnipiac and New Haven.
Burnett set a school record in the 200-meter last weekend at the Great Dane Classic. His time of 21.93 also qualified him for the IC4A Championship and earned him fifth place overall in the event. The time is the fastest in the America East this season. The senior also took fourth place in the 55-meter dash with an IC4A-qualifying time of 6.44, plus ran the first leg of the winning 4x400m relay which also set a school record with a time of 3:13.26.
Ortman, a freshman, set a new Albany standard in the 800-meter for the second straight week. She ran a 2:11.23 at the Great Dane Classic last weekend to win the event by nearly three seconds. Ortman broke her own school record of 2:12.96, which she set the previous week at the NYC Gotham Cup. She also ran a leg of the winning distance medley relay at the Great Dane Classic to help the Albany women to a second-place showing overall.
Zyvoloski won the weight throw competition for the third time in four meets this season and set a new UMBC school record at the Maryland Indoor Invitational at the Prince George’s Sports and Learning Complex last Saturday. Zyvoloski, who won the weight throw at the Bucknell Bison Open and Bucknell Gulden Relays and placed second at the Gotham Classic in his three other meets this season, recorded a mark of 58’4.75" (17.80-meter) to win the event and top UMBC’s old school record of 58’1.75 set by Balvin Brown in 2001. Zyvoloski’s mark was nearly a full five feet farther than second place (53’5.50").
Nathaniel tied her school record she set earlier this season with a mark of 5’6.0" (1.68-meters) in the high jump at the Maryland Indoor Invitational at the Prince George’s Sports and Learning Complex last Saturday. It is the second time this season Nathaniel has cleared the 5’6.0" bar, tying for third in the event and coming four inches from first place. Nathaniel in four meets this season has a second, third and two fourth-place finishes in the high jump.
Sherman tied the school record in the triple jump with a mark of 40-1.5 (12.23-meters) at last weekend’s Great Dane Classic. She won the event by a margin of 1.5 feet to help her team to a second-place overall finish. The senior also qualified for the ECAC Championship in her first triple jump competition as a collegian. The previous week, she qualified for ECACs with a personal best in the long jump at the NYC Gotham Cup.