CAMBRIDGE, Mass-
The 2009 America East Indoor Track & Field Championship will be held at Boston
University’s Track and Tennis
Center where the Terrier women and
University at Albany men will each
pursue their fifth consecutive conference title. The Championship begins Friday, February 20
at 10 a.m. and will conclude Saturday
with the awards ceremony.
The Great Danes have seen three athletes
provisionally qualify for the NCAA Championship, with junior Luke Schoen (Bohemia, N.Y./West Islip) qualifying
four separate times in the pole vault.
Sophomore Tyler Fogarty (Clifton Park, N.Y./Shenendehowa) is seeded first in the 800 meters with his qualifying mark
while junior Nasim Siddeeq (New Hampton, N.Y./Robert Morris) leads the conference by hitting the mark in the triple
jump. Senior Joe Greene (Rochester, N.Y./Edison Tech) will look to continue
his strong performances in the 400- and 500-meter runs and is seeded first and
second, respectively.
Binghamton University
and Boston University
are the only other schools for the men that have had athletes provisionally
qualify for the NCAA Championship this season, and the two will face off in the
mile when Terrier senior David Proctor (Rochdale, England/Hulme), seeded first in the mile, will try to out pace
Bearcat sophomore Erik van Ingen (Marathon, N.Y./Marathon) who is the second seed.
University of Maine’s
freshman Riley Masters (Bangor, Maine/Bangor) is ranked third in the mile and could pick up major points for
the Black Bears with a strong performance.
Junior Daire Bermingham (Potmamock, Ireland/Sutton Park School) will be a distance competitor for the
Seawolves and will look to outperform Proctor and van Ingen in the mile, 1,000
meters and the 3,000 meters events.
The University of New
Hampshire was the coaches’ preseason choice to
rival Albany, and will rely on
performances from sophomore Gabreal Dano (Merrimack, N.H./Merrimack), who is leading the 200 meters, and senior Robert
Edgarton (Cornish, N.H./Windsor (Vt.), who is seeded second in the 600- and 300-meter runs.
Vermont’s
junior Aaron Campbell (Bend, Ore./Summit), who is America East’s top performer in the 55-meter dash, and
teammate junior Justin Scricca (Wethersfield, Conn/Wethersfield), who is third in the 400 meters, could be difference
makers if they perform well.
Hartford excels
in the field events where senior Anthony Oluwanifise (Queens Village, N.Y./St. Francis Prep.) and freshman Nigel Nimoh (Flanders, N.J./Mt. Olive) are ranked 10th
and 11th, respectively, in the triple jump and are within the top 25
of the long jump.
On the women’s side, Boston
University will look to veteran
Andrea Walkonen (Jaffrey, N.H./Conant), who provisionally-qualified for the NCAA Championship with her
time in the 3,000-meter run, to outlast Stony
Brook University sophomore
Lucy Van Dalen (Wanganui, New Zealand) who is ranked just ahead of Walkonen with another provisionally-qualifying time. Van Dalen also
provisionally qualified for the mile, in which she holds the number one seed,
and is America East’s top performer the 1,000-meter run.
University of Vermont’s
junior Alyson Millett (Half Moon Bay, Calif./Half Moon Bay) will look to earn points in the distance category, ranked
within the top six spots in the mile, 1,000- and 3,000-meter runs.
Albany’s
senior Jennifer Gurrant (Batavia, N.Y./Batavia) is the only other female that has provisionally qualified for
the NCAA’s this indoor season, and hopes to surpass her mark in the triple jump
as the number one seed.
In order for the Terriers to defend their title, Shelby
Walton (Danbury, Conn./Danbury) will need to continue her dominant rookie season. Walton is ranked first in the 55 meters and
second in the 200 meters.
University of Maine’s
senior Vicki Tolton (Smithers, British Columbia/Smithers Secondary) is the top performer in the 400- and 500-meter events and could be
the Black Bears strongest competitor if she can out perform the rest of the
field.
University of New
Hampshire’s junior Rita Ciambra (Hanover, N.H./Hanover) is at the top of the
pole vault performance list, and will need to edge out Binghamton’s
second seed senior Carly Gross (Woodstock, N.Y./Onteora) to capture the event.
UMBC newcomer Imani Colbert (Upper Marlboro, Md./C.H. Flowers) has made her name known around
the league this season and will look for success in the 55-meter hurdles as the
second seed.
University of Hartford’s
freshman Kristalena Lamore (Hudson, Mass./Hudson) will rely on her versatility at this year’s Championship,
competing as the Hawk’s top performer in the triple jump, the long jump, and the
200 meters.
The Championship begins Friday at 10 a.m.
with the men’s heptathlon followed by the women’s pentathlon. Other finals on the first day of competition are the men’s and women’s 5,000-meter run, weight throw, pole vault,
long jump and the distance medley relay.
Saturday’s events begin at 10 a.m.
with the conclusion of the men’s heptathlon. Other Saturday finals are: shot
put, high jump, triple jump, 1-mile run, 55-meter dash, 400-meter dash,
500-meter dash, 55-meter hurdles, 800-meter run, 1000-meter run, 200-meter
dash, 3000-meter run, 4x800-meter relay, and the 4x400-meter relay. The event’s will conclude at approximately
3:30 p.m. and will be followed by the presentation of the Championship and
Runners-up trophies along with the Most Outstanding Track
Performers, Most Outstanding Field Performers, Most Outstanding Rookies, Coaches’
Awards and Coaching Staffs of the Year.
Albany, Binghamton, Boston
University, Hartford, Maine, UMBC, New Hampshire, Stony
Brook
and Vermont
will all compete in the 2009 America East Indoor Track and Field Championship.