CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The America East Track and Field Championship gets underway on Friday and four student-athletes are already in championship form. All four award recipients this week recorded the top conference time or distance in their respective events.
For the second straight week, Stony Brook’s Lucy Van Dalen (Wanganui, New Zealand/Wanganui Collegiate) picks up Female Track Performer of the Week. Joining Van Dalen is UMBC’s Amanda Deller (Aberdeen, Md./Aberdeen) who grabs her first Female Field Performer of the Week nod this season. Binghamton’s Erik van Ingen (Cortland, N.Y./Marathon) collects Male Track Performer of the Week honors and New Hampshire’s Brice Paey (Milton, N.H./St. Thomas) locks up Male Field Performer of the Week.
Van Dalen was the only collegiate runner to participate in the inaugural Women’s Wanamaker Metric Mile (1,500) at the Millrose Games over the weekend. Van Dalen finished seventh. Her time of 4:11.78 set a school record by more than 24 seconds and is the fastest 1,500 time by a collegiate man or woman this season.
Deller won the shot put event at the Lafayette/Rider Games with a personal-best toss of 14.96 meters (49’1.75”). Deller’s throw ranks second in UMBC’s record book and is the top toss in the America East this season. She also finished fourth in the weight throw (15.46 meters).
Van Ingen was one of only six collegiate runners in the Wanamaker Mile at the Millrose Games. The senior clocked in at a 3:56.27 clip, good for fifth place overall. Van Ingen’s school-record time qualified him for the NCAA Championships. He has now qualified for six NCAA Championship meets in his career and this is the third time in his career he has broken four minutes in the mile.
Paey won the shot put event for the sixth time this season with a first-place showing against Maine and Vermont. The senior heaved a school-record toss of 60’3” for a personal best. This is Paey’s fifth weekly award this season.
At the Millrose Collegiate Invitational the Albany women’s squad finished fifth out of 15 scoring teams, while the men’s team garnered a fourth-place finish out of 20 teams. The men’s distance medley team of Chris Burke (Tully, N.Y.), Paul Lagno (Salt Point, N.Y.), Peter Rowell (Scotia, N.Y.) and Jonathan Santana (Rochester, N.Y.) placed fourth overall clocking in at 9:49.90. Four Great Dane men turned in IC4A qualifying times in their respective events including Chris Buchanan (Cicero, N.Y.) who placed second overall in the mile with a time of 4:10.46. The Great Dane women were led by the performance of Sherez Mohamed (Albany, N.Y.). She broke the school record in the 500 meter dash, clocking in at 1:12.55. Jonelle White (Brooklyn, N.Y.) placed second in the 800 meter run with a time of 2:12.09. Both Mohamed and White qualified for the ECAC Championships.
Binghamton’s Erik van Ingen placed fifth overall in the Wanamaker Mile at the Millrose Games held on Saturday at the New York City Armory. His time of 3:56.37 was a school record and met automatic qualifying standards for the NCAA Championship meet. While van Ingen was at the Armory, the rest of the track team took part in the Cornell/Kane Invitational. There were five first-place finishes recorded by the Bearcats in the non-scoring meet. On the women’s side, Ashley AuPont (Endicott, N.Y.) won the high jump (5’7”) and Alexx Baum (North Woodmere, N.Y.) took top honors in the triple jump (39’1.25”). Both of them met the ECAC qualifying standard. Leading the Binghamton men’s squad were Jesse Garn (Marcellus, N.Y.), who won the 800 (1:54.37), and Ben Snodgrass (Vestal, N.Y.), who was first in the 3,000 (8:36.42).
Boston University hosted the Valentine Invitational over the weekend and the Terriers turned in several record-breaking performances. Rich Peters (Bristol, England/Brimsham Green School) broke his own school record in the mile, clocking in with a first-place time of 3:57.83. That time qualifies him for the NCAA Championships. Tewado Latty (Kingstono, Jamaica) recorded a top-10 finish in the 400 meter dash, finishing eighth with a time 48.37 seconds. The Terrier men were also successful in the field events. Connor Sullivan (Easton, Mass.) hit a mark of 2.04 meters in the high jump, good for fourth place. Sam Wuest (Sudbury, Mass.) was right behind in fifth place (1.99m). For the women, Shelby Walton (Danbury, Conn.) set a school and facility record in the 60 meter dash finishing with a time of 7.53 seconds. Walton also finished second in the 200 meter dash with a time of 24.48 seconds. Tessa Runels (Union City, Calif.) had a strong showing in the long jump, as she finished third with a leap of 5.36 meters. Allison Barwise (Orange, Conn.) also had a third-place finish, as she hit a mark of 1.78 meters in the high jump.
Hartford’s track and field teams competed at the Valentine Invitational over the weekend. For the Hawk men, Andrew Chalmers (Ashland, N.H.) broke his own school record in the mile, posting a time of 4:15.27. Senior Anderson Emerole (Jamaica, N.Y.) turned in the top overall finish for the Hawks, finishing 19th in the 200 meter dash with a time of 22.71. Wayne Lawrence (Warwick, N.Y.) posted a time of 2:33.05 in the 1,000 meter run, just .25 seconds off the school record in the distance while Cody Adamson (Scituate, Mass.) nearly broke his own school mark in the 60 meter hurdles with his time of 8.89 seconds, just .03 seconds shy of the record. For the women, Tiffany Harrison (Bloomfield, Conn.) finished second in her heat and ninth overall in the 500 meter dash with a time of 1:16.77. Harrison finished just .41 seconds off the school-record pace. Megan Barry (South Yarmouth, Mass.) set a personal record as she won her heat in the mile run, crossing the line in 5:14.08. In the field, Alisha Beeman (Stratford, Conn.) cleared 1.58 meters to finish 17th in the high jump.
The Maine track and field teams competed at two different events this weekend. For the women, Jesse Labreck (Oakland, Maine/Messalonskee) tied her own school record in the 60 meter hurdles and Vasiliki Papakotsi (Athens, Greece) won the pole vault at Boston U.’s Valentine Invitational. Labreck took third in the hurdles with a time of 8.39 which qualifies her for the ECAC Championships. Papakotsi cleared 12’1.5” in the pole vault to win the event. At the New Hampshire Tri-Meet, Rachel Wilkinson won the mile to lead the Black Bears. She finished in a time of 5:28.18, edging out the runner-up by less than a second. On the men’s side, Frank Del Duca (Bethel, Maine) notched a top-five school time in the 60 meter dash at Boston U. He finished 21st in a time of 7.05. Five other Black Bear men also posted top-10 school marks including Nathaniel Meade’s (Waldoboro, Maine/Medomak Valley) seventh-place showing in the triple jump (45’9.75”). At UNH, Arthur Von Marshcall (Milford, N.H./Milford) won the 55 meter hurdles to lead the men.
Competing in New York for the second straight week, the UMBC track and field teams participated in the Lafayette/Rider Winter Games. The Retrievers dominated the throwing events with Amanda Deller winning the shot put with a toss of 14.96 meters and taking fourth in the weight throw. For the men, Cameron McDearmon (Owings Mille, Md./Franklin) broke the UMBC record and placed second in the weight throw with a toss of 18.83 meters. In the shot put, Aaron Brooks (Upper Marlboro, Md./DeMatha) broke his own school record while placing fourth in the event with a throw of 16.31 meters. On the track, Mercedes Jackson (Huntington, Md./Huntington) won the 60 meter dash for the fifth time this season. She clocked in with a time of 7.51 seconds. Josh Hewitson (New Market, Md./Linganore) won the 500 for the Retriever men with a time of 1:04.39.
New Hampshire hosted Vermont and Maine in a tri-meet over the weekend, while several other members of the team took part in Boston U.’s Valentine Invitational. For the men at Boston, Kevin Greene (Silver Spring, Md.) recorded an 18th-place finish in the 800 meters, crossing in an IC4A-qualifying time of 1:52.36. D’Mahl McFadden (Penacook, N.H.) ran to a seventh-place finish in the 60 hurdles with a time of 8.36. At the tri-meet, Brice Paey won the shot put with a personal-best toss of 60’3,” breaking the school record he set last week. Max Hoddwells (Wayne, Maine) picked up wins in both the long jump and the triple jump for the Wildcats. On the women’s side, Allison Letourneau (Kingston, Nova Scotia) placed seventh in a field of 143 in the mile at the Valentine Invite, finishing with a time of 4:45.82, which broke the school record. Rosemary Read (West Greenwich, R.I.) turned in a top-15 performance in the weight throw as she placed 13th overall in a field of 44 with a toss of 49’1”. At the tri-meet, Lucy Garfield (Hanover, N.H.) captured the 1,000 meters in a time of 3:10.94 while Erin Phillips (Belmont, N.H.) was victorious in the 3,000 crossing the finish line in a time of 10:39.68. In the field, Jessica Salley (Andover, Mass.) won the high jump (5’5.25”), Danica Goodheart (Meredith, N.H.) was victorious in the triple jump (36’8.25”) and Read won the weight throw (53’11.25”).
The Millrose Games’ inaugural Wanamaker Women’s Metric Mile featured World and Olympic Champions, and Stony Brook’s Lucy Van Dalen. The senior ran a 4.11.78, finishing seventh. The metric mile is equivalent to the 1,500. Earlier in the meet, the men’s 4X400 relay team, consisting of Terry Martin (Bloomingburg, N.Y.), Robert Taylor (Jamaica, N.Y.), Adam Jacobs (Rexford, N.Y.) and Frank Gravano (Lindenhurst, N.Y.) took fifth in a time of 3:22.15. Also over the weekend, the Seawolves participated in the Valentine Invitational at Boston University. Carolina Cortes (Woodmere, N.Y.) ran an ECAC qualifying time of 2:55.52 in the 1000 meters and Katie Manzi ran a 27.66 in the 200 to lead the women. For the men at Boston U., Eric Speakman (Napier, New Zealand) won his heat of the mile in 4:04.00 setting a new school record and qualifying him for IC4As. Daniel Denis (Bayport, N.Y.) also won his heat in the mile in 4:14.89 which qualifies him for IC4As for the first time as an individual.
Vermont traveled to Durham, N.H. over the weekend to take on the Wildcats and Maine in a non-scoring tri-meet. For the Catamount women, captain Michele Langone (Burlington, Mass./Burlington) won the 300 meter dash in 41.84 seconds and smashed the school record in the event. Langone has improved her personal best from 42.62 to 41.84 in the last two weeks. In the field, Brittany St. Clair (Whitehall, N.Y./Whitehall) continued to impress in the long jump as she won her event with a leap of 5.36 meters. The Vermont men were paced by Connor Jennings (Concord, N.H./Concord) who was the top finisher in the mile in 4:23.85, as the Catamounts swept the top two spots. Chris Lemieux (Manchester, N.H./Manchester Memorial) captured victory in the high jump clearing a height of 1.96 meters. In total, the Catamount men and women won 10 events at New Hampshire.
All 18 America East track and field teams will descend on Boston University’s Track and Tennis center this weekend for the conference championship meet. Action gets started on Commonwealth Avenue at 10 a.m. on Friday.