BOSTON – Both the men’s and women’s titles in the 2026 #AETF Indoor Championship were in jeopardy going into the final two relay events of the meet. It was the UMBC women who came through to capture their first title, while the UMass Lowell men won its fourth at the BU Track and Tennis Center on Saturday.
UMBC used a second place finish in the 4x800 relay and then a gold in the 4x400 relay in a new meet record to secure the program’s first-ever track & field championship. The Retrievers finished the day with 163 points, taking down defending champion UAlbany which had 143. Bryant finished with 116.83 points to capture third, while Binghamton was fourth with 114 and NJIT placed fifth with 58.
On the men’s side, UAlbany won the 4x800 relay to close the deficit to just 4.5 points going into the final event, the 4x400 relay. The Great Danes won their heat in 3:15.77, but in the final heat UMass Lowell stepped to up finish second in both the heat and the race in 3:12.59 to capture the title.
UMass Lowell concluded with 172.50 points, while UAlbany had 163. UMBC placed third with 100 points, while Binghamton was fourth with 93. Maine rounded out the top four with 87 points.
Following the final races the following awards were given out to the top men and women at the meet.
Men’s Awards
Most Outstanding Track Performer: Tooni Ogunyeye, UAlbany
Most Outstanding Field Performer: Brennan Delaney, Binghamton
Most Outstanding Rookie: Jacob Martin, UMBC
Coaches Award: Yoofi Abaka-Amuh, New Hampshire
Coaches Award: Tooni Ogunyeye, UAlbany
Most Outstanding Coaching Staff: UMass Lowell
Elite 18 Award: Thomas MacCormick, Maine (3.96 GPA, majors: finance & political science)
Women’s Awards
Most Outstanding Track Performer: Katie Schwaner
Most Outstanding Field Performer: Ella Goulas, Bry
Most Outstanding Rookie: Enazajah Young, UMBC
Most Outstanding Coaching Staff: UMBC
Coaches Award: Katie Schwaner
Elite 18 Award: Ruby Grasnow, Maine (4.0 GPA, major: marine biology)
Record Breakers:
- UMBC’s 4x400 relay finished in 3:44.12, breaking the previous record of 3:44.39 set by the Retrievers in 2022.,
- UAlbany men’s 4x800 relay set a new conference mark, winning in 7:28.83 and beating the 2012 record of 7:30.56 set by Boston University.
- New Hampshire’s Yoofi Abaka-Amuah set a new conference record in the shot put with his distance of 18.71. He surpassed then 2024 record set by Travis Robinson.
- Binghamton’s Brennan Delany shattered the conference record in the heptathlon with his total of 5776. It broke David Parker of UAlbany’s 2008 record and is one of the top 15 scores in the nation. Derek Monroe who got second also surpassed the record with 5301 points.
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