ALBANY, N.Y. – Returning from the semester break, the University at Albany track & field program begins its 2021-22 indoor season on Saturday in earnest with the first of four trips to Boston.
 
Meet Info
Battle in Beantown
January 22 | Boston, Mass. | Boston University
Meet Info | Live Results
 
Teams: UAlbany, Boston College, Boston University, Harvard, Northeastern, Rutgers, UConn, UMass Lowell
 
Entries
 

Event	Women	Men
60m	Garner, Gray, Lowe, Matthew, McDermott	Blue, Casab, Cephus, Edwards, Gutierrez Almedina, Hermance, McFadden, Munro, Price, Quinn, Umuhuza, S. Williams, T. Williams
200m	Foster, Garner, Hyde, Kaoma, Lowe, McDermott, Payne, Thier	Casab, Hames, Mancabelli, Meehan, Munro, Price, Tapande-Ngombe, Umuhuza, T. Williams
300m	Baker, Calamunci, Denis, Gray	Blake, Hermance, Messado
400m	Grady, Lowe	Gutierrez Almedina
600m	Howard	Guialdo
800m	Butterfield, Hanson, Hayes, Rutt	Diaz, Rogalski
1-Mile	Chambers	Venson
3,000m	Planavsky
5,000m	Fitzmaurice, Guilfoyle, Iocca
60m HH	Calamunci, Denis, Hyde, Nelson-Chevry, Payne, Thier	Messado, Reagan, Mancabelli, Meehan
4x400m		Williams, Reagan, Guialdo, Tapande-Ngombe, Hermance, Messado
DMR	Rutt, Brown, Butterfield, Hanson, Hayes	Venson, Blake, Diaz, Rogalski
High Jump	Bailey, Hyde, Payne	Harris, Meehan, Farquharson
Pole Vault	Brinsko, Martinez, Solomon-Hollander	Dengler
Long Jump	Bailey, Hyde, Payne, Thier	Cephus, Edwards, Mancabelli, Price
Triple Jump		Blue, Farquharson
Shot Put	Bigsby, Galette-Rowe, Scott	Robinson
Weight Throw	Bigsby, Campos, Galette-Rowe	Nicholson

Leading the Pack

• Seven Great Danes lead the America East in their respective events
• UAlbany has set three program records this season
• UAlbany last competed on December 4, 2021, at Army West Point
• Yourry Tapande-Ngombe (400m, #19) and Leann Nicholas (triple jump, #22) are UAlbany's highest nationally-ranked men's and women's competitors, respectively, just outside the top-16 requirement to qualify for NCAA Indoor Championships

Last Time Out
UAlbany competed in its first indoor meet in 637 days when it opened the 2021-22 season at Army West Point's Carlton Crowley Open in December.  The Great Danes set three school records at the meet: Travis Robinson's men's shot put, Brynley McDermont's freshman women's 60m, and Leann Nicholas' freshman women's triple jump.
 
Great Danes Around the World
Continuing a long tradition of international participation, senior thrower Ludith Campos will competed for the Dominican Republic in her signature event, the hammer throw, at the U23 Pan American Games held in Cali, Colombia.  She placed
 
America East Leaders
60m: Imani Gray (7.60) / X
400m: X / Yourry Tapande-Ngombe (47.73)
500m: X / Raiden Guialdo (1:04.73)
60m HH: X / Antwone Messado (8.24)
TJ: Leann Nicholas (40-11.00) / X
SP: X / Travis Robinson (54-11.25)
WT: Shiana Galette-Rowe (59-11.25) / X
 
School Records
12/4/21: Travis Robinson (SP, 54-11.25, school & freshman)
12/4/21: Brynley McDermott (60m, 7.64, freshman)
12/4/21: Leann Nicholas (TJ, 40-11.00, freshman)
 
Layover
The 2021-22 season opener was UAlbany's first indoor track & field competition since the 2020 IC4A & ECAC Indoor Championships, marking a span of 637 days between indoor meets.  The 2020 indoor season concluded just before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the spring season, which ultimately stretched to the fall and extended to indoor track & field in the winter.  Great Danes track & field and cross country athletes saw three seasons completely or partially eliminated due to the pandemic: 2020 outdoor, 2020 cross country (made up on a modified schedule in spring 2021), and 2021 indoor.
 
Hall of Fame
On October 23, 2021, and after a long delay due to COVID-19, University at Albany Director of Track & Field and Cross Country Roberto Vives was inducted into the Greater Capital Region Track, Field, and Cross Country Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2020, the Hall's third-ever class.  He was enshrined alongside two other Great Danes in Jeoffrey York ('96) and Frank Myers ('68).  The trio joins in the Hall of Fame Bobbi Palma, UAlbany's first women's track & field coach, who was enshrined as part of the Hall's inaugural class in 2018.
 
America East Indoor History
For each of the last two seasons in which it was contested, the UAlbany Great Danes track & field program has swept the America East indoor championships.  The women are riding an active streak of eight indoor conference titles, and 10 of the last 11, while the men have won two-straight and 16 since their first in 2003.  Since joining the America East, the program has claimed a total of 210 America East indoor event titles.  The men have won 119, including 69 track and 50 field, and the women have won 91, including 58 track and 33 field.  In 2017, the men set a single-meet program record with 10 event victories, and the women's record of nine came in 2019, the year of their Triple Crown.  The women's most successful event has been the high hurdles, winning the event nine times, where the men have found the most success in the triple jump with 12 victories.  Currently, the Great Danes hold six women's and eight men's indoor championship meet records.
 
Sustained Success
Since reclassifying to Division I for the 1999-00 season, the University at Albany track & field program has won a total of 57 America East indoor and outdoor titles.  Twenty-six of those titles have come during the indoor season.  The women's current streak of eight-straight indoor championships ranks third behind North Dakota State's 14 Summit League indoor titles and Arkansas' nine SEC indoor titles.  Additionally, the women's 10 total titles in UAlbany's Division I era rank tied for 10th among D-I programs overall, and third since the team won its first indoor title in 2010 (North Dakota State, 12; Alabama State, 11).  The men's 16 total indoor titles are tied for second-most among D-I schools since 1999-00 with Houston, behind Liberty's 22, and outright second-most since their first indoor title in 2003 (Liberty, 19).
 
Outdoors, the Great Dane men hold the longest active streak of consecutive conference titles at 16.  The women's active streak of 12 is second nationally, one behind North Dakota State's 13-straight Summit League outdoor titles.  Since reclassifying the men's 17 titles rank second behind Liberty's 19, and the women's 14 rank tied for third with Bucknell, behind Monmouth's 17 and Alabama State's 15.  Finally, since winning their first Division I conference titles, the men's in 2003 and the women's in 2006, the Great Dane men and women each lead the country in outdoor conference titles.
 
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 59 of UAlbany's 120 conference titles in the Division I era, through the end of the fall 2021-22 season.  The men have won 17 outdoor and 16 indoor titles, followed by women's outdoor with 14, women's indoor with 10, and men's and women's cross country with one each.
 
21
When he won the 2020 America East Indoor 200m championship, Jan Michael Gutierrez Almedina crossed the line in 20.98, becoming the first Great Dane in history to break the 21.00 barrier outright.  Gutierrez Almedina previously ran a wind-aided 20.95 during the 2019 outdoor season.  In his career, he has won 10 America East event titles.
 
50
Only two women have hit the 50' mark in the shot put in program history.  Tara Belinsky hit it first, and remains the only woman to throw that far in both the indoor and outdoor events.  During the indoor 2020 season, Shelby Bigsby surpassed Belinsky's indoor record of 50-00.00 by nearly five inches, becoming the second woman to hit or exceed a 50' shot put mark.  Bigsby did not get a chance to carry her momentum to the outdoor season, which was cancelled due to COVID-19.
 
Continued Excellence
The UAlbany men have a stellar recent history in the high jump, featuring three overlapping student-athletes, Alex Bowen, Matthew Campbell, and Kingsley Ogbonna, who each cleared 7-00.00 in the event.  After they had all exhausted their eligibility, a new jumper joined the program.  Louis Gordon became the fourth Great Dane in history to clear 7-00.00 in the high jump, recording a season-best 7-02.25 to win the 2020 America East Indoor Championships as a freshman.
 
Triple Crown
After winning the 2018-19 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: UAlbany hosts its lone indoor "home" meet, the Great Dane Classic at Staten Island's Ocean Breeze complex, on Friday, January 28.