Albany's Joe Greene Geneva, N.Y./Edison Tech) and New Hampshire's Cathy Parker () have been tabbed America East Men's and Women's Track Performer of the Week, respectively, while UNH's Reed Liset (Dover, N.H.) and UA's Jenn Gurrant (Batavia, N.Y./Batavia) earn Field Performer of the Week honors as well. The awards were announced Tuesday (May 1).
At the Penn Relays, Greene posted a season-best time of 51.27 seconds to finish second in the men’s championship 400-meter hurdles. He lowered his NCAA-qualifying time with the performance, and was just behind South Carolina’s Jussi Heikkila (51.06). A day later, Greene anchored the sprint medley relay that set a school record and placed second. The relay finished right behind champion Florida State with a time of 3:17.09, more than four seconds better than the previous UAlbany standard. Greene ran sub-47 seconds on the 400m leg in leading the team to the fastest finish by an IC4A squad.
Parker set a new personal record in the 3000-meter steeplechase en route to a fourth place finish at the Drake Relays. Parker, who finished the race in 10 minutes, 21.97 seconds, was the only America East representative in the field of 23 runners. In fact, Parker was the only runner in the top-five to represent a university. The other four runners all graduated in 2006, with the top-two being represented by New Balance and Nike, respectively. The third-place finisher was an unattached runner, while the fifth-place finisher ran for the Indiana Invaders, a team comprised of elite athletes competing in USA Track & Field National Championship competitions.
Liset was victorious and broke a 20-year record in the discus on Saturday at the UMass Invite when the junior posted a 165-1 mark in the discus. Liset broke Ed McCabe’s record of 163-5 set in 1987. He also placed fifth in the shot put and sixth in the hammer throw to help lead the Wildcats to an overall second place finish.
Gurrant posted a personal-best mark of 19-feet and 0.25-inches to finish seventh in the women’s eastern long jump at the Penn Relays. Gurrant’s leap placed her in the ECAC championship field. She also represented the Great Danes in the triple jump, placing 15th with a leap of 36-feet and 5.5-inches.