Women's Indoor Track Places Second At ECAC Championships
Meet Results
Performer of the Meet: Grace Claxton
BOSTON, Mass.—The University at Albany women's track and field program finished out the 2016 indoor season this past weekend with a second place overall finish at the ECAC Indoor Championships held at Boston University's Track and Tennis Center. The women scored 48.5 points for second place behind four-time defending champion Connecticut, who scored 62 points. James Madison and St. John's tied for third place with 48 points.
Last year, the UAlbany women earned a program-high of second with 48 points, tying with St. John's. Connecticut took first, scoring 53 points.
Events kicked off on Friday with the women's pentathlon. Mary Adeyeyeplaced fifth overall, scoring 3,454 points. She placed second in the shot put in 38' 4.75", sixth in the 60 hurdles in 9.13, eighth in the 800 in 2:29.06, 11th in the high jump in 5' 0.5", and 13th in the long jump in 16' 5".
Senior Paige Vadnais earned seventh place overall with 3,451 points. She placed second in the 800 in 2:24.75, third in the 60 hurdles in 8.99, seventh in the long jump in 17' 1.5", Eighth in the high jump in 5' 1.75", and 10th in the shot put in 29' 2.5".
Saturday started on the track with the 60 hurdles. Niamani Morrison placed fourth in the trials, qualifying for semis in 8.71. She placed sixth in the semis, running 8.74, and placed seventh overall for finals in 8.82. Chibugo Ike placed fifth in the trials in 8.66, fourth for semis in 8.68, and eighth in finals, also running 8.82.
In the 60, Taahira Butterfield placed fifth overall in 7.70. Stephanie Osuji was seventh, running 7.73.
Grace Claxton won the 400 for the second year in a row. Her time of 52.89 broke the meet record set back in 1983 and qualified her for the IAAF World Indoor Championships in Portland, Oregon on March 18-20th. The qualifying mark was 53.15.
Osayi Owie placed ninth in the 500, running 1:14.41. Freshman Cara Sherman was 15th in the 3,000 in 9:46.00 and Molly Pezzulo was 20th in 9:54.67. Sherman also placed 12th in the 5,000, running 17:02.63, while Pezzulo ran a 17:23.22 for 20th.
In the relay finals, the 4x400 team of Aderinsola Ajala 55.7, Halie Snyder55.2, Akua Williams 56.7, and Grace Claxton 54.0 earned second overall, running a collective time of 3:41.98. The DMR of Nira Lovick 3:36.4, Paige Vadnais 56.2, Dominique Claudio 2:12.0, and Hannah Smith 5:02 earned ninth place in 11:46.99.
In the field events, Freshman Anika Hibbard tied for fifth in the high jump with a mark of 5' 5". Solène Bastien placed third in the triple jump with a personal best of 41' 5.75". Chinwe Igwe earned third in the weight throw with a mark of 58' 3.75". Lauren Lopano was 15th with her mark of 52' 5.5".
UAlbany's indoor season is now over as the teams enters the transition phase to the outdoor season. The next event on the calendar is the Shamrock Invitational in South Carolina on March 17.
