ALBANY, New York – After the first day of the America East Outdoor Track & Field, the University at Albany leads the men’s competition, and the University of New Hampshire holds the edge in the women’s.
Day one Outdoor Track & Field Championship began with the men’s and women’s decathlon and heptathlon.
On the men’s side, Maine started off the meet sweeping the first four events of the ten event series; James Rutter won the 100-meter dash (11.65) and shot put (13.08 meters). Matthew York took home the most points in the long jump, hurling himself 6.36 meters, and then continued his winning ways in the high jump, leaping 1.90 meters. Breaking the Black Bear trend, New Hampshire’s Daniel Johnson took the 400-meter dash (52.34) to close out the final day one event.
After day one, here are the standings for the men’s decathlon through five events:
1. Matthew York, Maine - 3,293
2. Daniel Johnson, New Hampshire – 3,268
3. James Rutter, Maine – 3,217
4. Kenneth Kopp, UMBC – 2,836
5. Tim Yandow, Vermont – 2,295
For the women, there were a variety of winners on day one of the heptathlon. Binghamton’s Daniella Olusoga ran the fastest across the finish line first in the 100-meter hurdles (14.80), just seven-hundredths of a second ahead of the runner up, Emma Checovich of New Hampshire. In the women’s high jump, Paige Vadnais registered the tallest mark at 1.61 meters.
The shot put portion of the heptathlon was controlled by Mary Adeyeye, who bested the competition be over a full meter, throwing to a 12.07 clip. In the final event of day one for the heptathlon, Vermont senior Sara Roderick won the 200-meter dash in 25.17 seconds.
After day of, here are the standings for the women’s heptathlon through four events:
1. Daniella Olusoga, Albany – 3,014
2. Sara Roderick, Vermont – 2,957
3. Paige Vadnais, Albany - 2,892
4. Kerstin Darsney, UMass Lowell – 2,774
5. Emma Checovich, New Hampshire – 2,732
6. Mary Adeyeye, Albany - 2,729
7. Ellen Bridgman, Vermont – 2,484
8. Lauren Bossi, Hartford – 2,371
9. Taylor Ordway, New Hampshire – 2,301
10. Mikaela Frechette, New Hampshire – 2,112
11. Catherina Dominick, Vermont – 1,987
Following the multi-event competitions in the morning, the majority of the track events in the afternoon were full of trail and preliminary races. Among the highlights included Sarah Daly of UMBC setting a new facility record in the 1,500-meter prelim, finishing with the top time in 4:39.03. Albany’s Michelle Anthony set a new facility record on her home track in the 100-meter hurdles, finishing in just under 14 seconds at 13.99.
In the women’s 400-meter prelims, three separate competitors bested the previous facility record, but the fastest of the bunch was from UMBC. The senior Mercedes Tillman finishing in 54.90 seconds, with Albany’s Grace Claxton and Halie Synder finishing behind her in the trails.
Albany continued to reset their own facility’s record book on the men’s side; Taariq Jones set a new facility record in the 400-meter race was well at 47.64 seconds.
In the women’s 100-meter dash preliminaries, eight runners broke the previous Albany track record, but the fastest of the group was Mercedes Jackson, the senior from UMBC. She took the trails in a time of 11.67 seconds. She leader for the Retrievers also set a new facility record in the 200-meter trails, winning in a time of 23.80 seconds.
There were two final events on the track, both distance runs. In the 3,000-meter steeplechase, New Hampshire took home first place in both the men and women’s race. Elinor Purrier took home first place for the Wildcats with a time of 10:09.18, nearly 12 seconds ahead of runner up, and fellow UNH student-athlete, Laura Rose Donegan. The men saw ten points come their way via John Prizzi; the senior has now won the event three straight years, finishing this year with his best time year of 9:06.11.
The 10K is the longest race of the championship. For the women, the University of New Hampshire swept the top three spots. Bronze finisher was Chelsey Serrano, (36:15.17), second place finisher Samantha Blais took second in 35:50.29, and junior Amber Short won the event in 35:37.73.
UMBC’s long distance specialists, Hassan Omar, won the men’s 10K race. The junior won in a time of 31:36.82, besting the runner-up finisher Mitchell Kun of Stony Brook by over five seconds. Wrapping out the top three was Dylan Sounder of Vermont.
Turning to the field events, the first to finish was the women’s hammer throw, and continuing her domination from the regular season, Maine’s Robyn McFetters took home first place in the event. The junior tossed 55.10 meters; taking first place over Albany’s Briana Cherry-Bronson, who threw 54.43.
In the javelin toss, the women’s champion reigns from Albany, and she goes by the name of Valeisha Walker. The senior threw 44.70 meters, over three meters better than runner-up Alexis Murray of Binghamton.
The Bearcats squad did see one of their own win in the field; Keishorea Armstrong won the women’s long jump, leaping to a distance of 6.25 meters. She sets the new facility record, which was previously set by Aiyanna James of Albany, who finished fourth (5.80 meters).
Vermont sophomore Grace Weisbecker took the podium to accept gold in the pole vault with a winning mark of 11’ 11.75”. She won the title in a jump off against junior Jaclyn Masters from the University of Maine, and senior Christy DiMichele of Binghamton.
UMBC took home the women’s high jump; senior Alisha Beeman bested the field, leaping to a top height of 1.70 meters. New Hampshire’s Tessa Artruc and Jessica Salley tied for second with Binghamton’s Jackie Crunden.
The men’s portion of the field events began with sophomore Michael Shanahan bested the competition in the men’s hammer throw, throwing a winning distance of 59.02 meters.
The long jump title falls in the hands of the Catamounts. Sophomore Ian Weider leaped a distance of 7.17 meters to take the gold; closely following him were Mande Semon of Albany (7.09 meters), and Stony Brook’s Lamar Hayes (7.07 meters).
The men’s pole vault was won be Nathan Hiett; the sophomore from Albany cleared a height of 5.00-meters to secure 10 points. Coming in second placed was Binghamton sophomore Peter Fagan, who leapt to 4.85 meters.
For the men, Vincent Rentzsch demolished the facility record in the javelin event, winning the gold with a final, furthest throw of 70.14 meters.
Here are the standings through day one of the America East Outdoor Track & Field Championship
Men’s Results Through 6 Events
1. Albany – 52.50 points
2. Vermont – 38.50 points
3. New Hampshire - 29 points
3. Binghamton – 29 points
5. UMBC – 28 points
6. Maine – 21 points
7. Stony Brook – 20 points
8. UMass Lowell – 16 points
9. Hartford – 0 points
Women Results Through 6 Events
1. New Hampshire – 53 points
2. Albany – 49 points
3. Binghamton – 34 points
4. UMBC – 26 points
5. Maine – 24 points
6. Vermont – 19 points
7. Stony Brook – 18 points
8. UMass Lowell – 11 points
9. Hartford – 0 points