ALBANY, N.Y. – A dozen UAlbany track & field student-athletes will return to Boston University for the Last Chance meet seeking a final opportunity to hit a national qualifying standard.
 
Meet Info
Boston University Last Chance Meet (Feb. 27-28)
Live Results | FloTrack
 
Entries (W/M)
200m: X / Gutierrez Almedina
400m: X / Banfield, Cruz III
800m: X / JeanPierre
5,000m: X / Perillo
HJ: Bailey, Muamba / X
PV: Martinez / X
LJ: Foster, Onah / Edwards, McFadden
 
Leading the Pack

• The women have now won eight-straight America East Indoor titles
• The men have won two-straight indoor titles, and 14 of 15
• Myles Banfield ranks fifth nationally in the men's 500m
• Louis Gordon ranks 23rd nationally in the men's high jump
• Jan Michael Gutierrez Almedina ranks 24th nationally in the 200m
• EJ Onah ranks 28th nationally in the women's long jump

 
Last Time Out
For the seventh time in the last eight seasons, the UAlbany track & field program swept the team titles at the America East Indoor Championships.  The women won seven events, led by Asia Jinks' titles in the 400m, 60m hurdles, and 4x400m relay, and Shelby Bigsby's indoor school record to win the shot put.  The men won eight events, behind two championship meet records in the 200m from Jan Michael Gutierrez Almedina, and freshman school records from Cameron Duffield in the 60m hurdles and Louis Gordon in the high jump.
 
Last Time at Last Chance
Last season, the Great Danes brought just two competitors to the Last Chance Meet at Boston University.  Sydney Gibbons won the men's 60m hurdles in 7.84 and David Carlson placed third in the men's weight throw in 64-11.25, a personal-best.
 
America East Leaders
60m: Chidinma Matthew, 7.50 / Garfield Napier, 6.79
200m: X / Jan Michael Gutierrez Almedina, 20.98
400m: Asia Jinks, 53.86 / Myles Banfield, 47.72
500m: X / Myles Banfield, 1:02.64
5,000m: Hannah Reinhardt, 16:21.44 / X
60m HH: Asia Jinks 8.45 / Cameron Duffield, 8.03
4x400m: X / 3:12.19
HJ: X / Louis Gordon (7-02.25)
LJ: EJ Onah, 20-03.75 / X
TJ: X / Robert Blue (50-11.50)
SP: Shelby Bigsby, 50-04.75 / X
WT: Ludith Campos, 60-07.25 / X
 
America East Indoor Champions
60m: Chidinma Matthew, 7.60 / Garfield Napier, 6.82
200m: X / Jan Michael Gutierrez Almedina, 20.98
400m: Asia Jinks, 53.86 / Harmodio Cruz III, 47.86
500m: X / Myles Banfield, 1:02.64
60m HH: Asia Jinks, 8.54 / Cameron Duffield, 8.03
4x400m: 3:45.75 / 3:12.19
HJ: X / Louis Gordon, 7-02.25
LJ: EJ Onah, 19-11.00 / X
TJ: / Omahri Sturdivant, 50-04.00
SP: Shelby Bigsby, 50-04.75 / X
WT: Ludith Campos, 60-07.25 / X
 
School Records
12/7/19: Myles Banfield (600m, 1:18.81)
2/1/20: Jan Michael Gutierrez Almedina (200m, 21.06)
2/22/20: Jan Michael Gutierrez Almedina (200m, 20.98)
2/22/20: Shelby Bigsby (SP, 50-04.00)
2/22/20: Cameron Duffield (60m HH, 8.03, Frosh.)
2/22/20: Louis Gordon (HJ, 7-02.25, Frosh.)
 
ECAC Qualifiers (20)
Bigsby, Brundige, Campos, Coleman, Galette-Rowe, Gbadamosi, Iocca, Jinks, Lacey, Lowe, Matthew, Onah, Owens, Quarshie, Reinhardt, Rowe, Rutt, Scott, 4x400m, DMR
 
IC4A Qualifiers (20)
Banfield, F. Beltran, Blue, Casab, Cruz III, Dixon, Duffield, L. Gordon, Gutierrez Almedina, Hermance, JeanPierre, Napier, Ragone, Somerville, Sturdivant, D. Williams, G. Williams, 4x400m, 4x800m, DMR
 
America East Indoor History
Sweeping the latest indoor championship meet, the UAlbany women have won eight-straight America East Indoor titles, and 10 in the last 11 years.  The men have won 16 total, and 14 of the last 15, since their first title in 2003.  Combined, since joining the America East, the program has won 208 event titles.  The men have won 120, 70 track and 50 field, and the women have won 88, 58 track and 30 field.  For both teams, the triple jump has provided the most success, with the men claiming 11 individual titles and the women winning eight.  In the 2019 championship meet, the women won a program-record nine events, while the men's record of 10 event victories came during the 2017 championship meet.  The women currently hold six America East championship meet records, and the men own eight.
 
Championship Pedigree
The UAlbany track & field and cross country program won its first America East title in 2003 when the men broke through to claim the indoor track team championship.  Since then, each of the six programs has won at least one America East crown, with women's cross country winning its first in 2018 as the final team to join the group of title-winners.  Overall, the program's six teams have collectively won 57 of UAlbany 118 conference titles in the Division I era, approaching the end of the winter 2019-20 season.  The men have won 16 indoor and outdoor titles each, the most in the program, followed by women's outdoor with 14, women's indoor with 10, and men's and women's cross country with one each.
 
High Standing
In Week 2 of the 2020 U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association indoor regional poll, the UAlbany women jumped two spots to attain their highest-ever regional ranking of second.  The Danes finished behind Northeast regional leader Harvard.  The women's previous high was third, hit on Week 5 of the 2015 indoor season and eight times during the outdoor season, including on seven occasions during outdoor 2019.  After falling off a bit, by Week 5 the women had returned to their high-water mark of second following their eighth-straight America East Indoor title, while the men jumped to fourth behind three individual regional-leading performances.
 
Reverse Jinks
In her first two meets of 2020, junior hurdler Asia Jinks improved her time in the 60m hurdles to 8.45 through the early part of the season, now ranking third in program history.  Jinks raced in the hurdles four times in January, in trials and finals at each meet, and set a new personal-best in three of the four races.  At the Great Dane Classic, with an existing personal-best of 8.60, Jinks hit 8.52 in the trials and 8.51 in the finals.  At the Dr. Sander Columbia Challenge, Jinks ran 8.53 in the trials before unleashing her current best, 8.45, in the finals.  By the start of the America East Indoor Championships, Jinks owned each of the fastest 11 hurdles times in the conference this season.
 
XC Recap
Senior Hannah Reinhardt dominated the headlines during the 2019 UAlbany cross country season, setting program records in both the 5K and the 6K, as well as establishing a new UAlbany current at overall 5K course record with her second-straight America East individual title.  Reinhardt became the second Great Dane in the Division I era to qualify for NCAA XC Championships, following her victory at the NCAA Northeast Regional XC Championships, a program-first.  Reinhardt led the women to a fourth-place team finish.  Charlie Ragone and Christopher Perillo paced the men's team in 2019, following a 1-2 sweep of the UAlbany XC Invitational with a 21st-and 24th-place finish, respectively, at the America East XC Championships.  The men as a team placed seventh overall
 
Team Captains
After six individuals served as interim captains through the cross country season, the track & field program elected its eight full-time captains on December 5, coming away with a captain class of eight, including one returning captain, Hannah Reinhardt, and one elevated interim captain, Adrian Mitchell.  The other captains elected were Shelby Bigsby, Lynn Gbadamosi, Asia Jinks, Myles Banfield, Bryan Nicholson, and Charlie Ragone.
 
Triple Crown
After winning the 2019 America East XC team title, the UAlbany women went on to claim team victories in the America East Indoor and Outdoor Championship meets, becoming the first women's program in conference history to win all three titles in the same academic year.  Previously, the 2011-12 UAlbany men and 1988-89 Northeastern men had claimed the Triple Crown.
 
Next
Championship season continues next weekend with IC4A and ECAC Indoor Championships at Boston University.