CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – If the America East indoor track and field preseason coaches’ poll is correct, Albany will continue its string of dominance on the track and win its seventh consecutive title this winter. The Great Danes sit atop the preseason poll as the unanimous preseason favorite.
The Great Danes racked up 64 points and all eight possible first-place votes from opposing coaches in the poll. Coaches were not allowed to vote for their own teams. Boston University received the lone remaining first-place vote, collecting 54 points overall to take second. Binghamton University received 50 points and is a very close third while UMBC is behind the Bearcats with 41 points. New Hampshire slides into the fifth spot with 38 points in front of Maine (30 points) and Vermont (24 points). Stony Brook ( 15 points) and Hartford (8 points) round out the nine-team poll.
Albany, which is gunning for its ninth title in the last ten years, returns a strong core of all-conference performers from a year ago led by senior Peter Rowell (Scotia, N.Y./Scotia-Glenville/Manhattan), the conference’s 2011 Indoor Track and Field Scholar-Athlete of the Year. Rowell won the 500 meter dash at last year’s conference championship and ran a leg in the distance medley relay that also took gold. Paul Lagno (Salt Point, N.Y./Millbrook) also returns as a member of that relay team. Also with senior Nick Santos (Albany, N.Y./Colonie Central), who took top honors in the 800 meter run last year and sophomore Kareem Morris (Albany, N.Y./Albany), the conference champion in the 200 meter dash, the Danes are in very capable hands to win consecutive title No. 7.
Boston U. comes in ranking second in the preseason poll and is returning several key components from its third-place team last season. Sophomore Rich Peters (Bristol, England/Brimsham Green School), one of the conference’s top distance runners, won the mile run at last year’s championship and is one of the three sub-four-minute milers from the Terriers’ Valentine’s meet. Peters, along with Balint Horvath (Budapest, Hungary/Szent Istvan Gimnazium) and David Krinjack (Manchester, Conn./Manchester), all return as members of the Terriers’ 4x800 relay team that captured gold a year ago. Meanwhile, R.J. Page (Swedesboro, N.J./Kingsway Regional) looks to make that final push as he finished second in the 60-meter dash.
Binghamton has all the talent to make a run at the conference crown come February. The Bearcats will be led by one of the most decorated America East track athletes in recent memory, senior Erik van Ingen (Marathon, N.Y./Marathon). Van Ingen was the Most Outstanding Track Performer at the 2011 championship and the Northeast region’s indoor track athlete of the year. He won the 1,000 and 5,000 meter runs in 2011 and set the conference record in the mile clocking in at 3:57.11 at the Boston U. Valentine’s meet. Cazal Arnett (Queens, N.Y./Christ the King) and Casey Gilbert (Berlin, N.Y./Berlin Central) are back from the championship 4x400 relay team while Adam Helman (Grand Island, N.Y./Grand Island) returns as the reigning pole vault champion.
UMBC, tabbed fourth in the poll, will ride the performances of four returning all-conference performers from 2011. Trae Proctor (Brandywine, Md./Thomas Stone) bolted to gold in the 60-meter hurdles as a sophomore last year while Joshua Hewitson (New Market, Md./Linganore) came very close to gold in the 500-meter dash. Several field performers will also have to have solid seasons if the Retrievers hope to tangle with the top teams in the poll. Cameron McDearmon (Owings Mills, Md./Franklin), who finished third in both the shot put and weight throw, and Shioma Obemeata (New Rochelle, N.Y./Iona Preparatory/St. Francis College), the runner up in the triple jump, shuold provide top finishes in the field events for UMBC.
New Hampshire grabs the fifth spot thanks to several field performers looking to have back-to-back solid seasons for the Wildcats. Leading the way this year will be Matthew Guarente (Saugus, Mass./Saugus). The junior jumper won the high jump title last season and finished third in 2010. Cameron Lyle (Plaistow, N.H./Timberlane) looks to have a big year in the throwing events a year removed from career best finishes at the conference championship. His second and fourth-place finishes in the shot put and weighted throw could very well turn into championship performances this year. Meanwhile, Daniel Decrescenzo (New Milford, Conn./New Milford), the runner-up in the 5,000-meter run, with lead the way on the track.
Maine takes the sixth spot in this season’s poll. The Black Bears enter the indoor season without distance standout, and the last sub-four-minute miler, Riley Masters (Bangor, Maine/Bangor) who will redshirt this season. In his absence, James Reed (Garmisch, Germany) and Trevor England (Auburn, Maine) will have to be solid for Maine. Reed finished a close second to UMBC’s Trae Proctor in the 60-meter hurdles last year while England leapt his way to gold in the triple jump.
After graduating its top finisher from a year ago, Vermont looks to build on its seventh place standing. Look for Connor Jennings (Concord, N.H./Concord) and Ethan McBrien (Dublin, N.H./Contoocook Valley Regional), who both turned in solid performances this fall during the cross country season, to lead the Catamounts. Jennings finished sixth in the 3,000 meter run at last year’s championship in what was then a school record. McBrien, meanwhile, was a key component on the 4x400 and 4x800 Vermont relay teams.
Stony Brook checks in at the No. 8 spot in the poll and will return its top finisher from the 2011 championship. Distance runner Gerard Harley (Setauket, N.Y./Ward Melville) finished eighth in the 5,000 and ninth in the 3,000 meter run representing the Seawolves’ top finishes during their ninth-place team finish in Boston last year. Eric Speakman (Napier, New Zealand/Taradale), who finished third at the cross country championship this fall, could make an impact this year on the track for Stony Brook, as well.
Hartford rounds out the poll after graduating one of its top two finishers from last season. Despite losing Warren Lane, who finished fifth in the 500-meter dash, Anderson Emerole (Jamaica, N.Y./Manhattan Center for Math and Sciences) is back and he is the Hawks’ top returning finisher from the 2011 championship. Emerole placed fourth in the 400-meter dash. 2011 marked the first time since the 2005 championship that Hartford did not finish in last place.
The America East Championship will be decided on Feb. 17-18 at Boston University’s Track and Tennis Center.