ALBANY, N.Y. – The University at Albany visits New York City this week for two meets.  On Thursday and Saturday, a selection of Great Danes will compete in the 114th Millrose Games.  Friday sees UAlbany host its first track & field meet since the 2020 Great Dane Classic.
 
*Per Ocean Breeze COVID-19 policy, no spectators will be permitted to attend Friday's Great Dane Classic.*
 
Great Dane Classic
January 28 | Staten Island, N.Y. | Ocean Breeze
Meet Info | Live Results | Meet Program
 
114th Millrose Games
January 27 & 29 | New York, N.Y. | The Armory
Live Results | USATF.tv+
 
Great Dane Classic Entries
 

Event	Women	Men
60m	Brinsko, Clarke, Foster, Garner, Gray, Hunt, Lowe, Martinez, McDermott, Solomon-Hollander, Thier	Casab, Dengler, Edwards, Gutierrez Almedina, Hames, Hatzmann, Hermance, Mancabelli, McDonough, Munro, Price, Umuhuza, S. Williams
200m	Baker, Clarke, Garner, Joseph, Kaoma, Morris	Hermance, Mancabelli, Meehan, Price, Umuhuza
400m	Brown	Blake, Tapande-Ngombe, T. Williams
500m	Grady, Howard	Guialdo, Reagan
1,000m	Butterfield, Hayes, Rutt, Zitomer	Danaher, Diaz, Rogalski, Venson
1-Mile	Chambers, Rutt
3,000m		Garcia
5,000m	Fitzmaurice, Guilfoyle, Iocca, Planavsky
60m HH	Calamunci, Denis, Hyde, Nelson-Chevry, Payne, Thier	Mancabelli, Meehan, Messado, Reagan
4x400m	Brown, Grady, Howard, Calamunci	Casab, Guialdo, Hames, Messado
High Jump	Bailey, Hyde, Payne	Farquharson, Harris, Meehan
Pole Vault	Brinsko, Martinez, Solomon-Hollander	Baker, Dengler, Hatzmann, McDonough
Long Jump	Bailey, Barrientos Alpha, Foster, Nelson-Chevry, Omokeni, Pepanio	Allen, Cephus, Edwards, McFadden, Price, Quinn
Triple Jump	Barrietos Alpha	Allen, Blue, Charles, Farquharson
Shot Put	Bigsby, Galette-Rowe, Gbadamosi, Hyde, Payne, Scott	Blatche
Weight Throw	Bigsby, Campos, Galette-Rowe, Gbadamosi	Nicholson

Millrose Entries
 

Event	Women	Men
Weight Throw	Bigsby, Campos, Galette-Rowe
4x200m	Denis, Gray, Matthew, Rowe	Blake, Gutierrez Almedina, Tapande-Ngombe, S. Williams

 
Leading the Pack

• Friday's Great Dane Classic will feature 46 teams and more than 1,000 competitors
• Jan Michael Gutierrez Almedina ranks 12th nationally in the men's 400m
• UAlbany will make its first appearance at the Millrose Games since 2015
• Great Danes lead the America East in 10 total events, including both the men's and women's triple jump and shot put
• The Millrose Games will be broadcast live on NBC on Saturday from 2:30 pm – 4:30 pm

Last Time Out
UAlbany returned to action at Boston University's Battle in Beantown for the first time in six weeks following their season opener in December.  The Great Danes recorded two victories at the meet.  Jan Michael Gutierrez Almedina won the men's 400m in 46.98, and Robert Blue won the men's triple jump in 48-06.75. 
 
Last Time at Great Dane Classic
The last track meet UAlbany hosted, the 2020 Great Dane Classic, saw UAlbany claim four event victories between active and former competitors.  Asia Jinks won the women's 60m in a then-personal best 8.51, while Chidinma Matthew won the women's 60m in 7.50, matching her personal best.  The men's 4x400m relay of Jan Michael Gutierrez Almedina, Harmodio Cruz III, Matthew JeanPierre, and Myles Banfield claimed victory in 3:13.94.  Finally, alum Cara Sherman won the women's 5,000m in 16:57.22.  One meet record was set in 2020, Kiara Grant from Norfolk State, winning the women's 200m in 23.25.
 
Last Time at Millrose
Three Great Danes competed in the weight throw at the 2015 Millrose Games, the last time UAlbany attended the meet.  In the women's competition, Briana Cherry-Bronson placed second overall in 64-01.75, matching her second-best throw on the season at the time.  Chinwe Igwe placed ninth in 50-02.25.  In the men's competition, Jonathan Eustache set a new personal best of 63-09.75, surpassing his previous best by nearly three feet, to take third.
 
47
With his winning time of 46.98  in the 400m at Boston University's Battle in Beantown, Jan Michael Gutierrez Almedina became the fifth Great Dane in program history to break 47 seconds in the event, and just the third to do so during the indoor season.  He follows former Great Danes Taariq Jones, Myles Banfield, Joe Greene, and Jason Tomlinson.  Only Jones and Banfield broke 47 seconds both indoors and outdoors.
 
Millrose Bound
When the field for the 114th Millrose Games was announced, it included five entries for UAlbany, which will make its first appearance at the indoor season's most prestigious meet since the 2015 season.  Three women's throwers, Shelby Bigsby, Ludith Campos, and Shiana Galette-Rowe, will compete in the weight throw on Thursday, while the Great Danes qualified both the men's and women's 4x200m relay teams into Saturday's competition.  The women's team consists of Dee Denis, Imani Gray, Chidinma Matthew, and Rori Lowe, and the men will bring Nicardo Blake, Jan Michael Gutierrez Almedina, Yourry Tapande-Ngombe, and Shakur Williams.
 
Performers of the Week
 
Week 5
Following UAlbany's second week of competition of the 2021-22 indoor season, Boston University's Battle in Beantown, three Great Danes earned America East weekly awards.  Victories from Jan Michael Gutierrez Alemdina in the 400m and Robert Blue in the triple jump earned a sweep of the men's track and men's field honors, and Ludith Campos' fourth-place finish in the weight throw garnered women's field honors.
 
Week 1
UAlbany kicked off the 2021-22 indoor season by winning two of the four Week 1 America East Performer of the Week awards.  After their performances at Army West Point's Carlton Crowell Open, Yourry Tapande-Ngombe and Leann Nicholas were named men's track and women's field performer of the week, respectively.  Tapande-Ngombe won the men's 400m with a meet-record 48.49.  Nicholas set a new program freshman class record and meet record of 40-11.00 with her victory in the 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 ninth overall, recording a mark of 188-05.00, her second-best performance of her career.
 
America East Leaders (W/M)
60m: Imani Gray (7.60) / X
400m: X / Jan Michael Gutierrez Almedina (46.98)
500m: X / Raiden Guialdo (1:04.73)
60m HH: X / Antwone Messado (8.24)
DMR: 12:38.70 / X
TJ: Leann Nicholas (40-11.00) / Robert Blue (48-06.75)
SP: Shania Scott (43-06.50 / 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)
 
NCAA Top-16
Jan Michael Gutierrez Almedina: 400m (12, 46.98)
 
USTFCCCA Regional Rankings
In the first rankings of the 2021-22 indoor season, UAlbany's men landed 10th in the Northeast Regional rankings and the women ranked 14th.  In the men's poll, Army claimed the top spot narrowly over UConn, followed by Harvard, Northeastern, and Brown rounding out the top-five.  Binghamton (9) and UMass Lowell (13) joined UAlbany in the top-15.  Cornell led the women's poll, ahead of Harvard, Army, UConn, and Northeastern.  As in the men's poll, Binghamton (6) and UMass Lowell (15) were the only other America East schools besides UAlbany in the top-15.
 
Week 1: Men (10) | Women (14)
 
Northeast Region Top-8
Nicardo Blake: DMR (6, 10:25.88)
Robert Blue: Triple Jump: (6, 48-06.75)
Emily Brown: DMR (5, 12:38.70)
Leonard Diaz: DMR (6, 10:25.88)
Shiana Galette-Rowe: Weight Throw (7, 59-11.25)
Imani Gray: 60m (5, 7.60)
Jan Michael Gutierrez Almedina: 400m (1, 46.98)
Chloe Hanson: DMR (5, 12:38.70)
Erin Hayes: DMR (5, 12:38.70)
Leann Nicholas: Triple Jump (1, 40-11.00)
Jared Rogalski: DMR (6, 10:25.88)
Sam Rutt: DMR (5, 12:38.70)
Yourry Tapande-Ngombe: 400m (4, 47.73)
Keveroy Venson: DMR (6, 10:25.88)
 
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 pays The Armory a second visit next week for the Dr. Sander Columbia Challenge.