With the traditional season over in the college track & field world, 11 America East student-athletes took to the national level last weekend, competing at four different meets that included the USATF Nationals, USATF Junior Nationals, Central American Championships and Jamaican Trials.
Binghamton's Jesse Garn, an All-American this year, highlighted the group at the United State Track & Field Championships where he finished fifth in his heat in the 800 with a time of 1:48.59. He ran in the same heat as 2012 Olympian Duane Solomon, who was fourth in the same event at the London Olympics three years ago, and won the heat in a time of 1:47.39. There were four professional runners and four collegiate runners in the heat. Garn had the highest finish of any of the college runners.
Junior National Championships are open to athletes under the age of 20, who compete for qualifying spots to the junior national team to compete in the Pan American Junior Games later this summer in Edmonton, Canada. Seven America East runners participated including Albany's Kyle Gronostaj, Tyler Ranke, and Devon Willis, Stony Brook's Courtney Warden, Michael Watts and Kaylyn Gordon, and UMass Lowell's Thomas Teachen.
Gronostaj finished in fourth place in the 10,000-meter run with a time of 32:00.57, Willis competed in the triple-jump and recorded a personal-best mark of Willis recorded 51’-7”, which placed third overall in the competition and ranks second in school history. Ranke ran the 3,000-meter steeplechase in a time of 9:28.13 to finished third.
Warden capped off a fantastic freshman season with a fourth-place finish in the 100-m hurdles setting a new school record in 13.57 seconds.Watts and Gordon also closed out their seasons, finishing seventh in the 5000-m run and triple jump, respectively.
Teachen finished tenth in a time of 9:55.23 in the 3,000-meter steeplechase to round out the competitors.
Albany sent a pair of athletes to the Central American Championships, including high jump standout Alex Bowen. Bowen, competing for Panama, won the high jump for the second-consecutive year, clearing 7’-0.5”. Grace Claxton competed for Puerto Rico as part of the 4x400-meter relay team. The team, which was trying to qualify for World Championships in Beijing, placed first overall with a time of 3:35. Claxton, who served exclusively as UAlbany’s anchor leg on the 4x400 relay, found herself leading off for the first time since she arrived on campus in August. She recorded a split of 53 seconds.
Albany's Matthew Campbell Campbell competed in the Jamaican National Championships, otherwise known as the Jamaica Trials. At stake for Campbell were potential qualifying positions into Pan American Games in Toronto, as well as the World University Games in South Korea. He placed fourth overall in the high jump, clearing a height of 6’-10.75”.