NEW YORK, N.Y. – The Vermont and Albany women find themselves knotted up in first place, just seven points ahead of the next team, with 45 points apiece after the first day of the 2014 America East Indoor Track & Field Championships at the Armory in New York, N.Y. The Bearcats women are slotted third with 38 points, with New Hampshire (33) and Maine (31) rounding out the top five.
The Great Danes are also in command of the leaderboard on the men’s side as they tallied 55 points, with Binghamton (48) and Maine (29) just behind in second and third, respectively, with a whole slate of events on tap for tomorrow. UMBC and New Hampshire rank fourth and fifth with 19 and 18 points, respectively.
A few highlights from the day include:
- Youssef Benzamia shattered a 13-year Long Jump standard of 7.40m, landing at 7.47m (24.6.25”) for a new America East Championship Meet record. Benzamia came into the meet already having a personal-best mark of 7.46m, which in itself was better than the prior record. He ousted his opponents by over a foot.
- Alfonso Scannapieco of Albany won his third-straight league-meet pole vaulting event (5.20m).
- Robyn McFetters of Maine qualified for the IC4As in the weight throw, making a toss of 16.39m.
- Binghamton’s Sarah Haley led the Bearcats in the pole vault, placing first with a 3.60 clear.
- Aliyanna James of Albany leapt to a first-place finish in the Long Jump at 5.63m.
- Silvia Del Fava of Albany topped a field of 15 competitors to take first in the 5000m run in 16:44.35.
- The New Hampshire women's distance medley squad of Amanda Symanski, Morgan Costa, Hannah Kimball and Elinor Purrier won in 11:31.55.
- Wilson Adams of Maine tossed the weight 19.67m for first place in the men's weight throw, which qualified him for the IC4As.
- Ben Snodgrass of Binghamton bested his competitors in the 5000m racing to a 14:47.89 finish. Kelton Cullenberg (Maine) and Christopher Buchanan (Albany) earned silver and bronze in the neck-in-neck competition, clocking in at 15:50.40 and 14:53.05, respectively.
- The Bearcats won the Men's Distance Medley in 9:53.27 with a quartet consisting of Eric Holt, Chris Fernandez, Adam McIe and Jesse Garn.
- Brittney St. Clair earned 10 points for the Catamounts in the indoor pentathlon with a finals score of 3799.
The championship continues tomorrow with qualifiers from many of today’s track and field events competing in the final rounds. Be sure to stay updated with the America East Championship Central page, which features schedules, past results and more. You can also follow along with the championship via the conference twitter account (@AmericaEast). Join in the conversation at the America East Track & Field Championships by using #AEChamps on Twitter and Instagram. Fans are also encouraged to take photos and use #AESelfie to have their photo show up on our photo album on AmericaEast.com and Facebook, as well as be retweeted on Twitter.
Women’s Team Rankings
1. Albany, Vermont – 45
3. Binghamton 38
4. New Hampshire 33
5. Maine 31
6. UMBC 15
7. Hartford 10
8. Stony Brook 9
9. UMass Lowell 8
Men’s Team Rankings
1. Albany 55
2. Binghamton 48
3. Maine 29
4. UMBC 19
5. New Hampshire 18
6. Stony Brook 10
7. UMass Lowell 9
8. Vermont 7