CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The outdoor season is officially underway for all America East track and field squads after a full weekend of competition. Four student-athletes already appear to be in championship form as they take home weekly honors.
New Hampshire sweeps the women’s awards this week with Sydney Fitzpatrick (Billerica, Mass./Billerica Memorial) and Rosemary Read (West Greenwich, R.I./Warwick) collect Female Track and Field Performer of the Week honors. The Wildcat men boast their own weekly award recipient as Brice Paey (Milton, N.H./St. Thomas) grabs the Male Field Performer of the Week. Maine’s David Currier (Sidney, Maine/Messalonskee) rounds out the weekly award winners as the Male Track Performer of the Week.
Fitzpatrick opened the outdoor season with a first-place finish in the 10,000 meter run at the Raleigh Relays hosted by North Carolina State. The senior topped a field of 48 runners, crossing the finish line in an ECAC-qualifying time of 34.50.34. Her time ranks first in the nation this season.
Read is the second Wildcat thrower in as many weeks to collect Field Performer of the Week. The junior won the hammer throw at Maine in a tri-meet with an ECAC-qualifying toss of 170’2” (51.88m).
Currier turned in a first-place finish in the 10,000 meter run at the Maine tri-meet over the weekend with a final time of 30:59.84. His time ranks among the top-four in school history and 17th in the nation this season.
After an impressive indoor season, Paey kicked off his outdoor campaign with a runner-up performance in the shot put at the Raleigh Relays. Paey, who captured the conference shot put title this past indoor season, was second in a field of 38 throwers with an IC4A-qualifying toss of 17.28 meters.
Albany began its stretch of two weeks away from competition but will return to the track on April 14 at the UMass Invitational and the ‘Dog Fight’ hosted by UConn.
In tough weather conditions, the Binghamton track and field teams opened their 2012 outdoor season with six individual winners this weekend at the non-scoring West Point Invitational. Jessica Hennig (Pine Bush, N.Y./Pine Bush) took top honors in the women’s 400 meter dash with a time of 58.10. Camille Ginyard (Vestal, N.Y./Vestal) captured a pole vault victory clearing a height of 11’5.75.” Despite the poor conditions, Kaitlin Sullivan (Kings Park, N.Y./Kings Park) posted a personal-best time of 1:03.60 to collect a three-second win in the 400 meter hurdles. Elsewhere on the women’s side, Ashley AuPont (Endicott, N.Y./American Intl.) won the high jump (5’5”) and Nandi Dozier-Lewis (Staten Island, N.Y.) captured triple jump gold (36’6.75”). Chris Hernandez (Charlton, N.Y./Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake) was the lone winner for the Bearcat men, winning the 800 in a time of 1:54.53. Robb Quiller (West Point, N.Y./James I. O’Neil) was second in the pole vault (16’0.75”) but met the IC4A qualifying standard in that event. Next up for Binghamton is the Cornell April Open this Saturday.
Boston University’s men’s and women’s track and field teams competed in two non-scoring meets this weekend with most of the squad heading to the Snowflake Classic in Medford, Mass., and the rest trying their hand at the Texas Relays. For the Terrier men, Joe Greenspun (Orange, Conn./Amity Regional) won the 1,500 meter run in Medford finishing with a time of 3:58.55. Nikolaos Farmakidis (Athens, Greece/Moraitis School) placed second in the pole vault clearing a height of 4.45 meters. Jeff Pelage (Pompano Beach, Fla./Pine Crest School), of the men’s basketball team, finished ninth in the shot put (13.34m) in his first track and field competition this year. Down in Texas, the Boston U. 4x400 and 4x200 relay teams each finished seventh overall. On the women’s side, Marita Stressenger (Cape Elizabeth, Maine/Cape Elizabeth) took first place at the Snowflake Classic in the 3,000 meter steeplechase with a time of 11:33.42. Amber Muhammad (Royersford, Pa./Spring-Ford) placed second in the 400 meter dash while Victoria Perez (Reading, Mass./Reading Memorial) took second in the 400 meter hurdles. Sarah Dillard (East Orange, N.J./Episcopal (Va.)) led the Terriers in the field with a winning shot put heave of 12.95 meters. She also finished second in the discus (39.63m). In Texas, Boston U.’s 4x200 team placed 13th overall and Allison Barwise (Orange, Conn./Amity Regional) collected 5014 points in her 16th-place finish in the heptathlon.
Hartford competed at the non-scoring UConn Spring Invitational over the weekend and the Hawks turned in some strong performances to kick off the outdoor season. On the men’s side, Andrew Chalmers (Ashland, N.H./Plymouth Regional) broke his own Hartford record in the steeplechase, posting a time of 9:44.89, nearly three seconds faster than the previous record. Dating back to the indoor season, Chalmers has broken six school records in his last five meets. In the 200 meter dash, Anderson Emerole (Jamaica, N.Y./Manhattan Center for Math and Sciences) led the Hawks with his time of 22.39, good for a fourth-place finish overall. Eric Quitzau (Blackstone, Mass./Blackstone-Millville Regional) finished eighth in the 110 meter hurdles and came up just short of the school record with a time of 16.04, .02 seconds off the record. The Hartford women posted 12 top-10 finishes at UConn led by Tiffany Harrison’s (Bloomfield, Conn./Bloomfield) fourth-place showing in the 200 meter dash, clocking in at 26.10. In the field, Alisha Beeman (Stratford, Conn./Bunnell) picked up a pair of top-five finishes as she took fifth in the javelin with a throw of 32.20 meters before going on to place fourth in the high jump with a leap of 1.58 meters. Hartford will now head to Springfield, Mass., this weekend for the AIC Invitational.
Both the Maine men’s and women’s track and field teams placed second overall in their home tri-meet over the weekend against New Hampshire and Bates. On the men’s side, David Currier won the 10,000 meter run in 30:59.84, which qualifies him for the IC4A Championships. Ryan Hardiman (Brookline, Mass./Brookline) also performed well in the distance events taking first in the 1,500 meter run with a time of 4:03.97. Frank Del Duca (Bethel, Maine) and Daniel Roukey (Westbrook, Maine/Westbrook) took the top spots in the 100 and 200 meter dashes. In the field, John Bergstrom (Upton, Mass.) collected the win in the long jump (20’09.25”) while James Berry (Orono, Maine/Orono) posted the second-best pole vault in school history (15’5”) to get the win. Nathaniel Meade (Waldoboro, Maine/Medomak Valley) won the triple jump for the Black Bears with a jump of 45’10.” On the women’s side, Corey Conner (Townsend, Mass./N. Middlesex Regional) won a pair of events to lead the Maine women. Conner made her return to competition in grand fashion with her wins in the 5,000 and 1,500 meter runs. The senior set a school record in the 5,000 with a time of 16:16.87, breaking the mark that had stood since 1995. Conner also qualified for the ECAC Championships in the 5,000. Jennifer Lucy (Bangor, Maine/Bangor) picked up a win for Maine in the 800 with a time of 2:19.70 while Allison Fereshetian (Turner, Maine/Waterville) and Jillian O’Brien (Buffalo, N.Y.) notched victories in the 100 meter hurdles and the 400 meter dash. The Black Bears return to action this weekend with a meet at New Hampshire.
The UMBC men’s and women’s track and field teams placed third and fourth at the Maryland Invitational in College Park over the weekend. Aaron Brooks (Upper Marlboro, Md./DeMatha) finished second in the shot put to lead the Retriever men. Brooks fired a toss of 15.61 meters, a personal best, to take silver and then went on to grab fourth place in the discus with a throw of 46.39 meters. On the track, Brandon McGee (Hiram, Ohio/Crestwood) etched his name in the school record book with a win in the 3,000 meter run. McGee ran the race in 8:37.49 which places him third all-time in UMBC history. On the women’s side, Imani Colbert (Upper Marlboro, Md./C.H. Flowers) broke her own school record by taking gold in the 110 meter hurdles with a time of 14.02. Chowan Brightful (New Market, Md./Linganore) and Whitney Ikpeze (Upper Marlboro, Md./Bladensburg) also picked up top-10 finishes for the Retrievers in the same event placing fourth and seventh, respectively. UMBC now hits the road for the Duke Invitational next weekend.
New Hampshire opened up its outdoor season with a tri-meet at Maine. The Wildcat women started 2012 with a victory while the men took third. UNH also sent a select group of competitors to the Raleigh Relays at N.C. State. On the women’s side at Maine, the Wildcats racked up 152.50 points for the win as Allison Brehm (Hampton, N.H.) led the way with three first-place finishes. Brehm won the 100 meter dash in 12.51, the 200 meter dash in 26.03 and she ran the anchor leg in the 4x100 meter relay team that finished first in 49.14. Rosemary Read (West Greenwich, R.I.) won the hammer throw, while Laura Stern (Shirley, Mass.), the reigning America East Field Performer of the Week, captured the javelin with a toss of 127’10.” At the Raleigh Relays, a trio of distance runners turned in a solid weekend of performances. Sydney Fitzpatrick won the 10,000 meter run, topping the field of 48 with an ECAC-qualifying time of 34:50.34. Keely Maguire (Georgetown, Mass.) took third in the same event with a time of 35:18.11. Allison Letourneau (Kingston, Nova Scotia) placed 17th overall in the 5,000 meter run but did set a school record in the process. That is the fourth school record (three indoor) Letourneau has broken this year. The New Hampshire men received winning performances from Kevin Greene (Silver Spring, Md.) in the 800, D’mahl McFadden (Penacook, N.H.) in the 110 meter hurdles and the 4x400 relay team, which featured Greene. At the Raleigh Relays, Brice Paey finished second overall in the shot put with a heave of 17.28 meters. Alexander Beaulieau (Merrimack, N.H.) placed 16th overall in the 5,000 meter run in a time of 15:17.19. UNH returns to Durham for a home tri-meet against Holy Cross and Maine this weekend.
Stony Brook had the week off but returns to action tomorrow with the inaugural Stony Brook Quad Meet.
Vermont returns to action this weekend at the Duke Invitational in Durham, N.C. and the George Davis Invitational hosted by UMass Lowell.