ALBANY, N.Y. – The University at Albany track & field program splits to attend two overnight meets this week in New York City and Utica.
 
Meet Info
Dr. Sander Invitational Columbia Challenge
January 27-28 | New York, N.Y. | The Armory
Live Results | USATF.tv ($) | UAlbany Entries
 
Pioneer Invite
January 27-28 | Utica, N.Y. | Utica University
Live Results | UAlbany Entries
 
Leading the Pack

• Leann Nicolas set a new personal best in the women's triple jump at the Battle of Beantown and ranks 14th in the nation
• UAlbany swept this week's America East Performer of the Week awards
• The Columbia Challenge and Pioneer Invite are UAlbany's first overnight meets of the season
• The women have won nine-straight America East indoor titles
• The UAlbany active women's indoor, women's outdoor, and men's outdoor conference title streaks rank as the longest in the nation among NCAA Division I programs

Last Time Out
The Great Danes competed in their first meet of 2023, Boston University's Battle of Beantown, after a six-week break for the winter intersession.  Amanda Chambers continued her hot streak, setting personal bests of 27 seconds in the mile and two-and-a-half seconds in the 800m.  UAlbany won a total of seven events and had four all-time program top-10 performances, headlined by Rori Lowe moving into second place in the women's 300m and Leann Nicholas moving into third in the women's indoor triple jump.
 
Last Time at Dr. Sander
February 4-5, 2022 | The Great Danes visited the Armory for the second and final time of the 2022 season to compete at the two-day Dr. Sander Invitational Columbia Challenge.  The 60m dash saw its freshman class program record broken once again, with Dominique Clarke improving on her women's record to 7.55, while Shakur Williams broke the men's record twice, first with a 6.80 and later with a 6.78.  The meet was the first for the Great Danes this season to feature team scoring, and the men finished 10th overall and the women finished 14th, in a field that included UCLA, Penn State, Virginia, Syracuse, and Maryland.
 
America East Leaders (W/M)
60m: Hunt, A. (7.59) / Williams, S. (6.66)
200m: X / Williams, T. (21.71)
400m: X / Blake (48.39)
800m: X / Dawkins (1:53.03)
60m HH: X / Messado (8.27)
4x400m: X / 3:18.08
LJ: X / Gordon (24-01.00)
TJ: Nicholas (42-03.25) / Charles (48-03.25)
SP: Bigsby (47-08.50) / X
WT: Campos (64-11.00) / X
 
Northeast Region Top-8
Shelby Bigsby: SP (5th, 47-08.50); WT (3rd, 61-03.50)
Nicardo Blake: 400m (2nd, 48.39)
Ludith Campos: WT (2nd, 64-11.50)
Tyler Charles: TJ (2nd, 48-03.25)
Dominique Clarke: 200m (7th, 24.66)
KJ Dawkins: 800m (8th, 1:53.03)
Toni Galloway: 60m HH (7th, 8.70)
Louis Gordon: LJ (3rd, 24-01.00)
Adaliz Hunt: 60m (8th, 7.59)
Leann Nicholas: TJ (1st, 42-03.25)
Shak Williams: 60m (1st, 6.66)
Travis Williams: 60m (2nd, 6.67)
DMR: Men (3rd, 10:25.06)
 
NCAA Top-16
Leann Nicholas: TJ (14, 42-03.25)
 
Indoor School Records
12/3/22: Shak Williams (60m, 6.66)
 
America East Indoor Performers of the Week
12/5/22: Ludith Campos, Shak Williams, Louis Gordon
12/13/22: Amanda Chambers, Shelby Bigsby, Travis Williams
1/24/23: Adaliz Hunt, Leann Nicholas, Travis Williams, Tyler Charles
 
Returning America East Indoor Champions

• Shelby Bigsby: Shot Put - W
• Nicardo Blake: 4x400m - M
• Dominique Clarke: 60m - W
• Ludith Campos: Weight Throw - W
• Antwone Messado: 60m HH - M
• Easton Reagan: 4x400m - M
• Travis Robinson: Shot Put - M
• Shak Williams: 60m - M

Leadership Team
In lieu of team captains for the 2022-23 season, the UAlbany track & field program selected a 12-member leadership council: Shannon Bailey, Shelby Bigsby, Emily Brown, Lucas Casab, Jewel Collins, Noreen Guilfoyle, Tino Mancabelli, Efe Omokeni, Easton Reagan, Travis Robinson, Shania Scott, and Shak Williams.  The council is made up of representatives from each of the team's event groups.
 
Record Breaker
Through her first two meets of the 2022-23 season, graduate student distance runner Amanda Chambers has claimed victories in both of her races, finishing with personal best marks and new meet records in the process.  At Army West Point's Crowell Open, Chambers won the 3,000m in 9:55.13, a personal-best by nearly 90 seconds.  She followed up her performance the following week by winning the 5,000m at the Joe Donahue Games at The Track at New Balance in Boston, finishing in 17:07.50, a personal best of one minute and 40 seconds.  In her third meet of the season, following a six week competition hiatus, Chamber set a 27-second personal best in the mile, and a two-and-a-half second personal best in the 800m.
 
Top Marks
Four Great Danes put up NCAA Division I top-10 marks in the first meet of the season.  Louis Gordon and Travis Williams ranked second and third, respectively, in the men's 60m.  Ludith Campos ranked fifth in the women's weight throw.  And Louis Gordon ranked 10th in the men's long jump.  Their marks lasted through the first full weekend of the 2022-23 season and they entered their second meet holding the same national rankings.  Ultimately, their respective rankings held until the middle of January.
 
Team Leader
Director of Track & Field and Cross Country Roberto Vives once again answered the call from Puerto Rico to work with the team at an international competition.  Vives served as team leader for the Puerto Rico qualifiers at the 2022 World Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Ore.  Vives, who reunited with Grace Claxton at World Championships, previously worked with the Puerto Rico National Team in 2018 and 2019, and worked in 2015 as a member of the Team USA staff.
 
Hall of Fame
Two additional members of the UAlbany track & field and cross country program have been inducted into the Greater Capital Region Track, Field, and Cross Country Hall of Fame.  Head cross country coach and assistant track & field coach Matt Jones was inducted as a member of the class of 2022, as was former men's competitor Felipe Reyes ('09).  Jones and Reyes were inducted in a class of 10, and bring the total number of inductees with ties to the UAlbany program to eight.  Additionally, the Hall of Fame began honoring high school athletes this year, and incoming freshman Alex Saltsman was honored for his career at Fonda-Fultonville.
 
Sustained Success
Since reclassifying to Division I for the 1999-00 season, the University at Albany track & field program has won a total of 61 America East indoor and outdoor titles.  Thirty-three of those titles have come during the outdoor season.  The women's current streak of nine-straight indoor championships is the longest in the country.  Additionally, the women's 11 total indoor titles in UAlbany's Division I era rank tied for ninth among D-I programs overall, and tied for second 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). 

Since reclassifying the men's 18 outdoor titles rank second behind Liberty's 19, and the women's 15 rank tied for second with Alabama State, 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.
 
The men's current streak of 17-straight outdoor conference titles is the longest in Division I, while the women's streak of 13 is currently tied North Dakota State's 13-straight Summit League outdoor championships.
 
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 62 of UAlbany's 125 conference titles in the Division I era, through the end of the winter 2021-22 season.  The men have won 18 outdoor and 16 indoor titles, followed by women's outdoor with 15, women's indoor with 11, and men's and women's cross country with one each.
 
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 makes its last trip to Boston before conference championships with a trip to Boston University's Bruce Lehane Scarlet & White Invitational on February 4.