CAMBRIDGE, Mass.— Two America East student-athletes and one coach were recognized regionally by the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association on Monday. The USTFCCCA released its 2011 Region Athletes and Coaches of the Year for Division I indoor track & field. Among the honorees in the Northeast region were Binghamton University senior Erik van Ingen, Stony Brook junior Lucy Van Dalen and Binghamton assistant coach Annette Acuff.
Van Ingen was named the male Track Athlete of the Year in addition to earning the nod as the America East Most Outstanding Track Performer at the 2011 America East Championship. At the conference meet, van Ingen grabbed gold medals in the 1,000 meters and 5,000 meters. The senior’s time of 3:57.11 in the one-mile at the Boston U. Valentine’s Invitational qualified him for the NCAA Championship in the event. Van Ingen also won the one-mile at last weekend’s IC4A/ECAC meet.
Van Dalen earned the nod as the female Track Athlete of the Year as she compiled a resumé that includes racing to the top of the NCAA charts in a pair of events as well as receiving the America East Most Outstanding Track Performer award. Van Dalen holds the nation’s top time in both the one-mile and 3,000-meter runs this season. She took the top spot in the mile at the Columbia Last Chance Meet with a time of 4:32.95. The junior was the America East Champion in the mile at the 2011 conference meet.
Acuff was recognized as the Assistant Coach of the Year for her work with the Binghamton men’s distance runners. Under her guidance, van Ingen ranks fifth nationally in the mile while the Binghamton distance runners racked up 68 total points at the 2011 America East Championship.
Both van Ingen and Van Dalen will represent America East at the upcoming NCAA Championship, March 11-12 at Texas A&M University. Van Ingen will run in the one-mile event at the meet. He will be joined in the one-mile by University of Maine junior Riley Masters and Boston University freshman Rich Peters. The trio of milers posted sub-four-minute times in the same race at the Boston U. Valentine’s Invitational in February. Masters will also run in the 3,000-meter run.
Lucy Van Dalen is set to represent Stony Brook in the 3,000-meter run, an event in which she is the nation’s top qualifier. Her sister, Holly Van Dalen, is also scheduled to run at the NCAA meet, competing in the 5,000-meter run. Van Dalen is joined in the 5,000 meters by Maine junior Corey Conner and Boston U. junior Katie Matthews.
The NCAA Championship will be webcast live on ESPN3.com Friday, March 11 from 4-8:40 p.m. and Saturday, March 12 from 4-7:50 p.m. The remaining events will be streamed live on NCAA.com. Additionally, ESPN2 will broadcast a tape delay of the event on March 16 at 2:30 p.m.
The preliminary heats for the men’s and women’s mile run are scheduled for Friday, March 11 at 4 p.m. The finals for the mile will begin at the same time on March 12. The 5,000-meter run finals will begin Friday at 7:05 p.m. while the 5,000-meter run finals are scheduled for Saturday at 6:40 p.m. Each of these events will be shown on ESPN3.com.
The regional awards come on the heels of the IC4A/ECAC meet last weekend. University at Albany finished ninth overall at the meet out of 50 scoring teams, one year after placing first in the team standings two years in a row. The Great Danes scored 25 points and were led by senior Wilfredo de Jesus Elias, who won the weight throw with a school record mark of 19.97 meters. Binghamton also finished top 20, scoring 13 points for 20th place.
On the women’s side, Albany again paced America East finishers, taking seventh place overall, the highest finish ever for the Albany women at the ECAC meet. The Great Danes broke three school records during the meet. Stony Brook, which is currently ranked No. 24 in the nation by USTFCCCA, placed 16th as a team. Maine and University of New Hampshire tied for 21st.