Albany’s Gered Burns (Altamont, N.Y./Guilderland) and Alyssa Lotmore (Albany, N.Y./Bishop Magin) have been named America East Men’s and Women’s Indoor Track Performers of the Week. UMBC’s Charles Devaud (Baltimore, Md./Archbishop Curley) and Binghamton’s Katie Wilmer (North Syracuse, N.Y./Cicero North Syracuse) are this week’s Men’s and Women’s America East Indoor Field Performers of the Week. The awards were announced Tuesday (February 7).(Week Six recap)
Burns ran the fastest time in the 800-meter by a collegian this season as he won the event in 1:48.80 at the New Balance Collegiate Invitational last weekend. He broke his own school record for the second time this season, improving his best time by 44-hundredths of a second. It is the second time this season Burns has provisionally qualified for the NCAA Championship. Burns has bested the IC4A-qualifying mark by more than two seconds each time he has competed in the event this season. He also helped the 4x400 relay team to an IC4A-qualifying time of 3:15.47 at the Invitational.
Lotmore shattered the Albany 5,000-meter record with a time of 16:57.62 at the New Balance Collegiate Invitational last weekend. She bested the previous standard of 17:34.61, set by Tonya Dodge in 1997, by more than 35 seconds. The junior also became the first woman in school history to break the 17-minute mark indoors. Lotmore finished 10th in the event, which featured some of the best collegiate distance runners in the nation. She also met the ECAC standard in the 5,000, the third individual event she has qualified for this season. Lotmore is in the top four in the America East in the mile, 3,000-meter and 5,000-meter.
Devaud topped all other competitors in the college pole vault competition at the New Balance Collegiate Open at the New York City Armory last weekend, winning the event for the first time this season. Devaud scored a mark of 15’ 03.00” (4.65 meters), joining teammates Rob Ludwig and Nathan Dixon as the only conference pole vaulters to go over 15-feet to date this season.
At the Syracuse Invitational this past weekend, Wilmer won the women’s pole vault and qualified for the ECAC Championships in the process with a height of 11’ 9.75”. Prior to this weekend, Wilmer’s top vault this season was 10’ 11.75”.