BOSTON--The Binghamton men and the Albany women lead the team standings after day one of the 2011 America East Indoor Track and Field Championship held at Boston University's Track and Tennis Center. Eleven individual and relay champions were crowned on the first day of action and three America East records fell.
The Bearcat men finished the day with 57 points, while five-time defending champion Albany sits in second place with 47 points. New Hampshire is third with 27 points, and UMBC is fourth after day one with 23 points. Host school Boston U. scored 20 points for the day, while Maine (9 points), Stony Brook (5), Vermont (4) and Hartford (3) round out the men's team standings.
The Albany women look to repeat their indoor title as they lead with 50 points. New Hampshire and Boston U. are close behind with 44 and 42.50 points, respectively. Binghamton (22 points), Stony Brook (21) , Vermont (19), UMBC (18.50) and Maine (16) also scored on the first day of the two-day meet.
Highlighting the action on the women's side, Boston U. junior Katie Matthews earned an automatic NCAA qualifying time in the 5,000 meters, clocking in at 16:06.38. Matthews legged out the race more than 20 seconds faster than Stony Brook's Hayley Green, the silver medalist in the event, and nearly 30 seconds quicker than third-place finisher senior Erica Jesseman from New Hampshire.
The Stony Brook women's distance medley squad also made noise, crushing the America East record. The Seawolves ran the race in 11:13.20 to break the previous record of 11:42.16. The Great Danes, who finished second, also broke the record with a time of 11:41.48.
Boston U. sophomore Allison Barwise, last year's Rookie of the Year, won the first gold medal of the meet with first place in the pentathlon. Barwise scored 3,813 points to break the previous America East record set in 2005 by over 200 points. The sophomore dominated the field events en route to the win, capturing first place in the high jump, long jump and shot put pentathlon events.
Maine's versatile junior Jesse Labreck also set a new America East record in the long jump with 20 feet-01.75 inches on her second leap of the evening. Albany senior Yushanni Durrant (19-00.50) and Boston U. sophomore Nikko Brady (18-09.00) rounded out the top three in the event.
New Hampshire senior Rita Ciambra, the current indoor record-holder in the pole vault, finished first in the event, vaulting 12 feet-3.5 inches.
Despite Albany leading the women's standings, senior Kadine Johnson was the Great Danes' only individual winner on day one, capturing the title in the weight throw with an ECAC-qualifying throw of 58 feet-10.25 inches, and outhrowing the second-place finisher Amanda Deller from UMBC by over five feet (53-07).
The Binghamton men scored 20 of their day one points in the 5,000 meters, with senior Erik van Ingen earning gold with an IC4A-qualifying time of 14:25.08. New Hampshire junior New Hampshire Dan Descrescenzo finished second (14:28.75), while sophomore Bearcat Jeff Martinez (14:32.57) ran to a third-place finish.
After the Bearcats came into the meet with the top three heights in the pole vault, they fell just short of the 1-2-3 sweep with UMBC senior Martin Nevarez sneaking into the silver-medal slot with a height of 15-09. Binghamton's Adam Helman, a sophomore, vaulted 16-02.75 to finish atop the pack. Teammates Eric Van Aernam and Robb Quiller shared the bronze by making jumps of 15-09, each on their third attempts.
The Great Danes paced a fast distance medley with seven of the eight teams earning IC4A-qualifying times. Albany placed first in 9:48.80, followed by UMBC (9:49.52) and Boston U. (9:54.90).
Albany senior Frederick Casimo took home the long jump title with an IC4A leap of 23 feet-2.5 inches. His teammate, freshman Kareem Morris, followed closely behind in second at 22-11.75 meters. The Great Danes also picked up points in this event with junior Kadeem Howells' fourth-place finish (22-04.5), freshman Matthew Catera's sixth-place finish (22-01), and sophomore Kurtis Randolph in eight-place (21-06).
Great Dane senior Will deJesus Elias easily threw his way to his third-straight weight throw indoor championship, earning a throw of 64 feet-10 inches, more than six feet further than his closest competitor, silver medalist Paul DeTurk of New Hampshire (58-00.5).
UMBC senior Keith Onto leads the 2011 heptathlon after four events. Onto will go into day two with 2,781 points and the 60 meter hurdles, the pole vault and the 1,000 meters remaining. Another pair of seniors in Vermont's Beau Cameron (2,763) and New Hampshire's Anthony Vorachak (2,661) are also in the hunt for the gold sitting in second and third place after day one.
The second and final day of the championship begins at 10 a.m. on Saturday with the finals of the men's heptathlon. An awards ceremony will follow the conclusion of the meet.
Women - Team Rankings - 6 Events Scored
1) Albany 50 2) New Hampshire 44
3) Boston U. 42.50 4) Binghamton 22
5) Stony Brook 21 6) Vermont 19
7) UMBC 18.50 8) Maine 16
9) Hartford 0
Men - Team Rankings - 5 Events Scored
1) Binghamton 57 2) Albany 47
3) New Hampshire 27 4) UMBC 23
5) Boston U. 20 6) Maine 9
7) Stony Brook 5 8) Vermont 4
9) Hartford 3