Baltimore, Md. ? Marc Pallozzi won his second javelin throw title, as the UAlbany men's squad leads after the first day of competition at the America East Conference Track and Field Championship held on Saturday, May 5 at UMBC's Track and Field Facility. The women are in fourth place as Jenn Gurrant captured the long jump title.
Pallozzi, a senior, won his event with a throw of 216-feet and 2-inches, nearly 23 feet more than the next competitor. He lowered his NCAA-qualifying distance with that performance. Palozzi also finished first in 2005, but was second one year ago.
The Great Danes dominated the long jump by taking the top four places. Gabriel Lopez was first with an NCAA-qualifying distance of 23-feet and 4.5 inches. Felipe Reyes was second with 23-feet, 2.5-inches, Valete Graham third with 22-feet, 9-inches, while Chase Frazier finished fourth with 22-feet, 8.5-inches.
Ricardo Estremera was UAlbany's third champion of the day when he ran an NCAA regional qualifying time of 9:03.46 to win the 3,000-meter run. David Parker is in second place behind UMBC's Charles Devaud after five events in the decathlon. Parker has 3,371 points. Joe Greene qualified for the finals in two events during Saturday's preliminaries in the 400-meter dash and 400-hurdles. Junior Burnett had the fastest time in 100-meter dash qualifying with a time 10.80 seconds.
Freshman Luke Schoen finished second in the pole vault with a school-record mark of 16-feet, 8.75-inches. He went 16-7 to set the previous standard at the New York Relays on April 22. Freddie Wills took third in the high jump by clearing the bar at 6-feet, 6-inches.
In the women's competition, Gurrant won the long jump with a leap of 18-feet,3-inches. Jessica Ortman was second in the 3,000-meter steeplechase with a time of 10:56.65. Ashley Lewis finished fifth with a javelin throw of 105-feet, 2-inches. Valerie Maignan is in second place after day one of the heptathlon with a score of 2,385, just 130 points behind Binghamton's Marsha Fiesinger.
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MEN
1. UAlbany 81, 2. New Hampshire 66, 3. Binghamton 41; 4. Maine 19, 5. UMBC 18, 6. Boston U. 17, 7. Vermont 12, 8. Stony Brook 11, 9. Hartford 8.
WOMEN
1. New Hampshire 65, 2. Boston U. 39.50, 3. Vermont 35.5, 4. UAlbany 30, 5. Binghamton 21, 6. Maine 19, 7. UMBC 13, 8. Stony Brook 11.
