Indoor Track Looks To Defend Conference Titles
Championship Central ǀ Schedule ǀ Entries: Men ǀ Women ǀ Live Results ǀ Webcast: Fri. ǀ Sat.
ALBANY, N.Y. – After five meets in six weeks, the University at Albany indoor track program finally arrives at the America East Indoor Championships, where the men's team seeks to win its 10th consecutive indoor title, and the women's team seeks their third consecutive and fifth in six years. The meet will mark UAlbany's second trip to the Armory in New York City this season.
“The Armory, as I've said before, is really a home away from home for us,” said Director of Track & Field and Cross Country Roberto Vives. “A lot of our student-athletes are from the New York metropolitan area so they ran at the Armory throughout high school. Even our student-athletes who aren't from that area have experience running there. So it's very familiar to our student-athletes. They know the layout, where to warmup, where to get food, which is important and lends a sense of comfort.”
Last year, the men scored 219 points to win their ninth consecutive title, defeating runner-up Binghamton by nearly 80 points. The women won their second consecutive title, scoring 198.5 points, ahead of runner-up Binghamton by nearly 75 points. The team as a whole collected victories in 11 events, runners-up in 13, and third place in 15. Returning conference champions for the men include Alexander Bowen in the high jump, Youssef Benzamia in the long jump, setting the championship meet record, and Taariq Jones in the 400. The men's 4x400 and 4x800 also won conference titles. Michelle Anthony in the 60 hurdles and Aiyanna James in the long jump are returning individual conference champions for the women. In total, the men and women scored points in every contested event except for one each.
Between indoor and outdoor, Bowen has won six total America East high jump titles. Jones has won three total America East 400 titles. Anthony has won three short hurdles titles. Rochelle Reid and John DeLallo each are former individual champions as well, in the women's high jump and the men's 1,000 respectively.
After all of the points were tallied in last year's championship meet, UAlbany came away with four of 10 individual championship awards. Kareem Morris won the Men's Coaches' Award, recognizing the student-athlete who accumulates the highest point total during the meet. Morris scored 23 points from a victory in the 60, second place in the 200, and fourth place in the long jump. Alfonso Scannapieco won Men's Outstanding Field Performer after winning the pole vault, placing second in the long jump, and placing eighth in the 60 hurdles, accumulating 19 total points for the Great Danes. Finally, both the UAlbany men's and women's coaches were honored with the Coaching Staff of the Year awards, with the women's staff winning outright and the men's staff sharing the award with Binghamton.
“If we execute, we'll be in a good position to defend our championships,” said Vives. “We're normally never leading after the first day, which is where we focus on getting people into finals. Our strength lies in our depth to cover all of the events, which reveals itself as the meet progresses.”
The Great Danes expect to see the stiffest competition from Binghamton, who earned runner-up finishes last season. The Bearcats men and women are also the only other America East teams, besides UAlbany, to have held spots in the Northeast Regional Rankings. Additionally, the women's teams from UMBC and UMass Lowell could prove challenging with high quality talent up front in some events.
“It usually takes about 170 points to win championships, and I think the men and the women will both need to score about that many points,” said Vives. “It's going to be competitive, because there are good competitors in the conference, and we're going to need those seventh and eighth place point-scorers to come through. Of the 38 or so student-athletes we usually bring, we would expect about 27 or 28 to score in their events. Everyone will contribute to this meet.”
Of the 219 points the men's team scored last year, they lost 88 points and 17 scoring positions to graduation, injury, and other personnel losses. The women's team lost 77.5 of their 198.5 points scored and 13 scoring positions under the same circumstances.
The UAlbany coaching staff implemented a new training and competition schedule this season that was designed to ensure the student-athletes were fresh entering championship season. The first meet on the schedule was a week later than it has been traditionally, allowing for a longer on-campus training period following the long winter intersession. Additionally, the coaching staff added a designed week off after the team's first three meets, which occurred in three consecutive weekends. After the week off, the Great Danes would have one final tune-up meet before conference championships, which this year is the fifth meet on the schedule instead of the sixth. Finally, the shorter schedule resulted in the elimination of this year's Great Dane Classic, which in the past has been UAlbany's indoor “home” meet hosted at the Armory. This particular change allowed the coaches to pay greater attention to the student-athletes and their training, because there was no need this year to undergo preparations to host a major invitational.
“I think the plan is working,” said Vives. “You can see the breakthrough performances we had last weekend, and hopefully they will continue this weekend.”
“If you look at my group,” Vives continued “last weekend at Valentine 10 of the 11 student-athletes I brought for the 400 ran personal or seasonal bests, so they're progressing well.”
Looking at this year's team, the men's and women's team each have tremendous quality and depth in the jumping events and the throwing events. In the short sprints, the teams might lack talent at the top, but make up for it with a number of student-athletes who can end up scoring. The long sprints should be an area where the men and women score well. The middle distance and distance squads may not be quite as deep as they were a year ago, due to personnel losses from graduation, injury, and illness, but there are still significant scorers among the group. Finally, the Great Danes relays are solid and should be competitive.
“I think the throwers are in a good spot,” said throws coach Deshaya Williams. “They're confident, and I'm trying not to put too much stress on them.
“Everyone in my group looks good in practice, where they've really been feeding off of one another leading up to championships,” said Todd Wolin who coaches the vertical jumps, hurdles, and multis. “All of them want to do well, and they've worked hard to get to where they are.”
There are only a handful of scoring events that take place on Friday, comprised mostly of jumping and throwing events. The athletes in these events have the opportunity to get the team off to a good start early, and can help set the tone for the remainder of the meet.
“The throwers know they score early,” Williams said, “and I don't talk to them about it because I don't want to add any pressure. But they talk about it amongst themselves, because they're good students of their events. All I try to do is keep them neutral and focused on what we can control.”
“I find staying neutral, not getting too high or too low, is the best way to have success,” Williams continued. “But I still want them to enjoy the moment and ride the wave of excitement that comes with conference championships. So the goal is to support one another, finish throws, and focus only on what we can control.”
“My group is excited to be in a position to score early to get the team off to a good start,” Wolin said. “They want to be among the early scorers, which helps drive motivation for the later events in the meet. And in turn, I want to see them cheering on their teammates in other events, because as the team goes, they go.”
“Anybody can do something at any time,” Wolin continued. “They just have to stay within themselves, don't try to overachieve, and get each other up. They have to believe in themselves and have faith in what they've done to this point. And all I will ever ask of them is to do their best and enjoy the moment.”
The middle distance and distance groups arrive at conference championships a little shorthanded, after suffering significant graduation and injury losses. There is still high quality talent and sizeable point scoring potential, but the number of bodies available from last year has declined.
“I don't think we're as deep as we have been in the past,” said Matt Jones, who works with the middle distance and distance runners. “And that's partly because of graduation, partly because of injury, partly because of illness, and even partly because of the weather. But when that happens people have to step up and take on rolls.”
“It's exciting to see the young kids develop,” Jones continued. “It makes them stakeholders in the meet."
The weather has proven to be somewhat of a hinderance to the distance training program, as Coach Jones has had to utilize UAlbany's indoor facility more than he would have liked for high volume training.
“It's the nature of the sport,” Jones said. “When we have a milder winter we're usually healthier, and this winter hasn't been very mild. But while it can stress a squad to have difficulties like this to a point, since everyone is already at a different level of development, it also can create opportunities for others within the group to take on a bigger role. So we're constantly modifying and adjusting to the needs of each student-athlete.”
Coach Jones will preside over the men's and women's distance medley relays, which run Friday night as one of the earliest scoring events. He believes the two events will be among the most exciting of the entire meet.
“I think we should be in the mix in both the men's and women's DMRs,” Jones said, “and this year they should be very good, competitive races. They're a great way to kick off a meet. As for the rest of it, as long as we compete hard we should be in a good spot. And I think we're in a good spot for some breakthroughs. Improvements for the group will translate into points for the team, which is what's great about track, the individual efforts within the team dynamic.”
The Great Danes enter conference championships leading the America East in six men's events and seven women's events. For the men, Jones ranks first in the 400 at 47.71. Jason Tomlinson ranks first in the 500 at 1:03.12, a flat track converted time. Bowen and Matthew Campbell share the conference lead in the high jump at 7'-0.5”. Jordan Crump-King and Mande Semon lead the long jump performance list, each recording a mark of 22'-11.25”. Crump-King also leads the triple jump, where UAlbany holds the top four rankings, with a mark of 49'-3”. Jonathan Eustache leads the weight throw with a mark of 63'-9.75”.
On the women's side, Grace Claxton ranks first in the 400 at 54.85. She also leads the 500 in a flat track converted time of 1:13.29. Dominique Claudio leads the 800 in 2:09.82. Anthony leads the 60 hurdles in 8.38. James leads the long jump in 19'-1.5”. Briana Cherry-Bronson leads the weight throw, where UAlbany holds the top three spots, in 65'-6.25”. Finally, the women's 4x400 relay team leads the conference with a flat track converted time of 3:45.54.
Beyond the conference leaders, and the events where UAlbany also hold spots immediately behind its own conference leaders, the UAlbany men also hold the fifth ranking in the 60, the third through sixth rankings in the 200, the third and fourth ranking in the 400, the fourth and fifth ranking in the 800, the fourth ranking in the 1,000, the third ranking in the mile, the sixth and seventh ranking in the 5,000, the sixth ranking in the 60 hurdles, the third ranking in the pole vault, the eighth ranking in the long jump, the eighth ranking in the shot put, the fifth ranking in the heptathlon, the second ranking in the 4x400 relay, and the fifth ranking in the distance medley relay.
The women hold the sixth ranking in the 60, the fourth through seventh rankings in the 200, the third, fourth, and sixth rankings in the 400, the third, fifth, and sixth rankings in the 500, the eighth ranking in the mile, the eighth ranking in the 5,000, the fourth and fifth rankings in the 60 hurdles, the eighth ranking in the high jump, the fifth, sixth, and eighth rankings in the pole vault, the fourth and fifth rankings in the long jump, the second and fourth rankings in the triple jump, the second ranking in the shot put, second ranking in the 4x800 relay, and fourth ranking in the distance medley relay.
“The coaching staff has done a great job of preparing our student-athletes, and creating a culture of success within our program,” Vives said. “Now it's about minimizing our mistakes, executing well, and showing up to compete. If that happens, the results will take care of themselves.”
Events start Friday at 4:00 p.m. with the women's pentathlon, the men's pole vault, and the men's weight throw. The women's events will follow the men's, starting at 6:50 p.m. with the women's 60 hurdles trials. Events continue Saturday morning at 9:30 a.m. with the final three events of the men's heptathlon. At 10:30 a.m., the field events get underway with the men's high jump and the women's triple jump. Opening ceremonies for the championship are scheduled for 11:45 a.m., and will be followed by the track events, starting at 11:55 a.m. with the men's mile. Live video of Friday's and Saturday's events can be viewed following the links at the top of the article.
