ALBANY, N.Y. – The University at Albany track & field program kicks off the outdoor season with two spring break meets in Florida and in Puerto Rico.
 
Black & Gold Invitational
March 17-18 | Orlando, Fla. | University of Central Florida
Live Results | UAlbany Entries
 
Spring Break Classic
March 17-18 | Carolina, Puerto Rico
Live Stats | UAlbany Entries
 
Leading the Pack

• The men return 167.5 of 235 points from the 2022 America East Outdoor Championships; the women return 162 of 246
• UAlbany has won 17-straight men's outdoor titles and 13-straight women's outdoor titles, both of which are the longest active streaks in the country
• UAlbany is hosting the America East Outdoor Championship meet for the first time since 2019
• The outdoor schedule features two meets each at home, at UMass, and at UConn

 2022's Outdoor Opening Weekend
For the second-straight year, the Great Danes will open the outdoor season at both the UCF Black & Gold Invite and the Carolina Spring Break Classic in Puerto Rico.  Last season, the team added Army West Point's West Point Spring Open to the season's first weekend.  The Great Danes won three events over the busy weekend, Nicardo Blake in the men's 400m at the Spring Break Classic, Robert Blue in the men's triple jump at Black & Gold, and Bryan Nicholson in the men's discus at West Point.
 
Last Time Out
UAlbany sent its middle-distance contingent to one final meet during the indoor season, the IC4A & ECAC Indoor Championships in Boston.  The meet was highlighted by America East-leading performances from the men's 4x800m relay, champions in 7:28.64, the program's fifth-best time since 2009-10, and the women's distance medley relay, placing third in 11:43.55.  Additionally, Alicia Grady earned a top-five finish in the women's 500m in a personal-best 1:15.05.
 
America East Outdoor History
UAlbany has won 17-straight men's outdoor America East titles, and 18 overall, and 13-straight women's outdoor titles, and 15 overall.  The men have had the most success in the triple jump, winning 15 event titles.  The women have had the most success in the hurdles events, winning 12 100m and 400m hurdles titles each.  The Great Danes also hold seven men's and four women's active America East Outdoor Championship meet records.  Overall, the Great Danes have won 254 event titles at America East Outdoor Championships.  The men have won 146, including 88 track events and 58 field events, and the women have won 108, including 67 track events and 41 field events.
 
Sustained Success
Since reclassifying to Division I for the 1999-00 season, the University at Albany track & field program has won a total of 60 America East indoor and outdoor titles.  Thirty-three of those titles have come during the outdoor season.   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, and the women's streak of 13, are the longest in Division I.
 
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.
 
Northeast Region Rankings (Indoor)
Week 1: Women (5) | Men (7)
Week 2: Women (4) | Men (8)
Week 3: Women (4) | Men (9)
Week 4: Women (6) | Men (12)
Week 5: Women (3) | Men (6)
Week 6: Women (4) | Men (11)
 
Northeast Region Indoor Top-8
Isaiah Allen: TJ (7th, 48-09.00)
Shelby Bigsby: SP (7th, 47-08.50); WT (5th, 64-10.00)
Ludith Campos: WT (3rd, 68-00.50)
Dominique Clarke: 60m (1st, 7.38); 200m (2nd, 23.69)
Louis Gordon: LJ (4th, 24-03.75)
Steph Green: WT (8th, 62-00.25)
Leann Nicholas: TJ (2nd, 42-04.00)
Shak Williams: 60m (2nd, 6.66)
Travis Williams: 60m (1st, 6.59); 200m (1st, 20.89)
 
NCAA Indoor Top-16
Travis Williams: 60m (t-16th, 6.59)
Travis Williams: 55m (1, 6.14e)
 
Indoor School Records
12/3/22: Shak Williams (60m, 6.66)
2/3/23: Travis Williams (60m, 6.64)
2/4/23: Dominique Clarke (60m, 7.38)
2/11/23: Travis Williams (60m, 6.59)
2/11/23: Travis Williams (55m, 6.14 – en route)
2/19/23: Travis Williams (200m, 20.89)
2/19/23: Jazmen Newberry (200, 23.85, freshman)
2/26/23: Ludith Campos (WT, 68-00.50)
 
America East Indoor History
In 2022, the UAlbany women repeated, again, as America East Indoor champions, while the men placed second behind champion UMass Lowell.  The women won nine-straight indoor conference titles from 2013-22, and further 11 in 12 years, while the men have won 16 since their first in 2003.  Since joining the America East, the program has claimed a total of 232 America East indoor event titles.  The men have won 131, including 77 track and 54 field, and the women have won 101, including 62 track and 39 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 13 victories.  Currently, the Great Danes hold six women's and eight men's indoor championship meet records.
 
2023 America East Indoor Champions
Shelby Bigsby: Shot Put - W
Dominique Clarke: 60m – W
Dominique Clarke: 200m – W
Ludith Campos: Weight Throw – W
Brinesha Derrick-Bain: 4x400m – W
Louis Gordon: Long Jump – M
Alicia Grady: 4x400m – W
Rori Lowe: 4x400m – W
Antwone Messado: 60m HH – M
Jazmen Newberry: 4x400m – W
Leann Nicholas: Triple Jump – W
Efe Omokeni: Long Jump – W
Travis Robinson: Shot Put - M
Travis Williams: 60m – M
Travis Williams: 200m – M
 
America East Indoor Leaders (W/M)
60m: Clarke (7.38) / Williams, T. (6.59)
200m: Clarke (23.69) / Williams, T. (20.89)
800m: X / Dawkins (1:52.03)
4x400m: 3:45.84 / X
4x800m: X / 7:28.64
DMR: 11:43.55 / X
LJ: Omokeni (19-04.00) / Gordon (24-03.75)
TJ: Nicholas (42-04.00) / X
SP: Bigsby (47-08.50) / X
WT: Campos (68-00.50) / X
 
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
1/31/23: Efe Omokeni, Tino Mancabelli
2/7/23: Dominique Clarke, Ludith Campos, Travis Williams, Isaiah Allen
2/14/23: Ludith Campos, Travis Williams
 
Dashing
Great Danes have recorded five separate program record-breaking performances in the 60m dash during the 2022-23 indoor season.  First, Shak Williams broke Junior Burnett's long-standing record in the first meet of the season with a 6.66.  Two months to the day later, teammate Travis Williams ran 6.64.  The following week, T. Williams ran 6.59 to place second at the 115th Millrose Games.  Additionally, T. Williams surpassed the program's 55m record, en route, with a 6.14.  Finally, on February 4, Dominique Clarke bested the women's record of 7.40, by both Dayleen Santana Rodriquez and Stephanie Osuji, with her 7.38 at the Bruce Lehane Scarlet & White Invitational.
 
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 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.  In her fourth meet, the Dr. Sander Invitational Columbia Challenge, Chambers lowered her PR in the 3,000m yet again by just over five seconds.  Ashley Miller from WNYT featured Chambers' early season accoladed for her January 31 Athlete of the Week segment.
 
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.
 
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.  This season, Ja'Lil Reynolds cleared 6-09.00 to move into a tie for 10th place in program history.
 
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: The Great Danes visit UConn for the Dogfight on April 1.