Durham, N.H.-- The University at Albany Great Danes became the first school to sweep all four men's and women's track & field titles in the same year as they took home both titles at the 2010 America East Outdoor Track & Field Championship at Reggie F. Atkins Track on the University of New Hampshire campus.
The Albany men won their sixth outdoor title in a row by compiling 190 points, 51 more points than runner-up Binghamton's 139 points. The host Wildcats finished in third with 127 points. UMBC (120.5 points), University of Maine (92.5), Boston University (89), University of Vermont (44), Stony Brook University (32) and University of Hartford (22) rounded out the nine-team meet.
The Great Danes women performed stong late in the field events to hold off University of Maine, 197.5-172. The New Hampshire women also finished third, tallying 133 points, followed by Boston U. (101.5 points), UMBC (68), Vermont (59), Binghamton (55), Stony Brook (49) and Hartford (19).
To begin the day on the men's side, the Albany 4x100 relay team took home gold in 41.654, narrowly legging out UMBC's team which clocked in at 41.657. Binghamton finished in a close 41.78. All three were IC4A times.
Binghamton junior Cazal Arnett, who took home both the Male Track Athlete of the Meet and the Male Coach's Award for compiling the most points, swept the 400m and 200m events, while contributing to the America East record-breaking 4x400 relay team, setting the new meet record in a time of 3:10.72.
Bearcat rookie Jeff Martinez, who won the 10,000m Saturday evening, also placed second in the 5,000m en route to his Most Outstanding Rookie of the Meet Award.
UMBC senior Victor Gilreath broke a 19-year old triple jump record with a leap of 15.45m. He was named the Most Outstanding Field Athlete of the Meet for his performance on Sunday.
Another Retriever, junior Keith Onto, broke another impressive meet record, the men's decathlon record. Onto compiled 7,239 points to surpass Michael Wellington's record of 6,885 points in 1989. Boston U. junior Richard Haigh's 6,662 were also enough to qualify for IC4A's.
Roberto Vives and his staff earned the men's Coaching Staff of the Year Award.
On the women's side, Boston U. rookie Allison Barwise finished first in the heptathlon with a new America East outdoor record of 5,104 points, breaking Nicole Parker's mark of 4,754 from 2003. Barwise won the heptathlon high jump, shot put, long jump and placed third in the high jump final to earn the title of Most Outstanding Rookie of the Meet.
The Black Bear tandem of Jesse Labreck and Vicki Tolton earned major hardware and combined for nearly 70 points. Labreck garnered the meet's Most Outstanding Field Athlete, as well as the coaches' award, for placing in the high jump, long jump, triple jump, 100 hurdles, 4x400 and 4x100 relays. Her high jump of 1.74m broke the meet record, while the 4x400 team broke its own record it had set just last outdoor season with a time of 3:41.22. Tolton, who earned Most Outstanding Track Athlete, placed first in the 400m and the 400m hurdles individually, while also part of the record-breaking 4x400 squad.
The Maine women's relay teams brought the Black Bears within mere points of the favored Albany team, however the Great Danes' Catherine Coxon won the discus throw and her teammates went 3-4-5-6 in the triple jump to secure the team victory at last.
Mark Lech of Maine and his coaching staff were awarded the Coaching Staff of the Year on the women's side.