Chambers Named to Capital District Sports Women of the Year Class of 2023

ALBANY, N.Y. – Four days removed from the 2023 America East Outdoor Championships where she claimed her second All-Conference accolade of the season, the bell rang signifying the final lap of Amanda Chambers’ latest 1,500m.  Over the ensuing 400m, Chambers moved ahead of a tight pack to cross the line in second place.

4:27.01.  Another personal record.

“Coach [Matt] Jones kept telling me he wanted me to be top-three in the 1,500m and the 5,000m by the end of the year,” Chambers said.

The 1,500m at the West Point Twilight Meet concluded a renaissance year for Chambers in which she rewrote both her personal and the UAlbany program record books.  Indeed, Chambers did make a prophet out of Coach Jones. She now ranks third in UAlbany history in both the 1,500m and 5,000m.  But her ascension in the program’s all-time rankings took a detour, one that started at the end her high school career.

In recognition of her accomplishments this season, Chambers has been named to the Capital District Sports Women of the Year Class of 2023.

Informed alongside her father, Chambers is one of 13 members of the Class of 2023, and one of three individuals from the collegiate ranks.

“This is such a nice accomplishment, and it feels so good after all I’ve accomplished this year to see that people have recognized my hard work,” said Chambers.  “I felt very grateful and honored to be a recipient.”

Before becoming a Great Dane, Chambers was a standout performer in cross country and track & field at South Colonie High School.  Specializing in middle and long distance events, Chambers made multiple appearances at New York State and National championship meets.

“I was so decorated in high school and then it was all taken away from me,” said Chambers.  “I feel like I came here and no one really knew who I was or what I had accomplished or what I was capable of.”

Chambers suffered her first significant physical injury mid-way through her senior year at Colonie. During an interval workout in the hallways of the school, a setting only too familiar to track & field athletes in the Northeast in the winter, Chambers felt a snap in her ankle.

“I went to turn around, and when I pushed against the wall I felt something snap,” said Chambers.  “I finished the interval but immediately after I couldn’t walk.  From then on, it was almost eight months of visiting doctors and not getting answers. My imaging showed some inflammation but nothing to indicate a specific injury.”

Chambers did not feel like her injury was related to overtraining, as she says her coach at the time, Frank Meyers, holds to a lower-mileage philosophy in an effort to allow his runners to continue to grow in their careers after high school.  Still, months went by before Chambers finally found answers.

“I finally got a diagnosis that suggested I wore my tendon down after having rolled my ankle so frequently during cross country, and that my peroneal tendon needed to be reconstructed,” said Chambers.  “I had the surgery in March of my freshman year at UAlbany.”

The surgery, like the injury that necessitated it, was also Chambers’ first.  As was the significant recovery that would follow.

“My ankle was so weak coming back after the surgery,” said Chambers.  “And I had gotten sick a lot my freshman and sophomore years, so I think that’s when my anemia issues started as well.  I think recovering from an intense surgery like that, while being anemic at the same time made it so much more difficult.  It was such a mental battle, and it took me almost a year to just even jog after surgery.  I do eight miles a day now, and looking back it's crazy to see how much I struggled to even do two miles.”

The anemia diagnosis, an ailment common to runners where an individual does not have a sufficient amount of healthy red blood cells to distribute oxygen throughout their body due to an iron deficiency, wouldn’t come until later.  For now, Chambers was focused on rehabbing her ankle.

“I was cleared for activity between fall and winter my sophomore year,” said Chambers.  “But I just didn’t feel good.  I would try to run and I just couldn’t.  And part of the process of being an injured athlete is comparing your body to what it felt like before.  One thing I’ve learned from that process is that I’m not always going to feel good, and it’s going to be hard.  But this just felt too intense to only be a difficult recovery.

Chambers’ continued to rehab her injury and did notice her ankle was improving.  She began increasing her mileage, and with it, her strength.

“I approached my first year of recovery as a steppingstone,” said Chambers.  “I wanted to run, for myself, decent.  I wasn’t running my high school PRs, but I was running okay.”

But despite the continued improvement in her ankle, Chambers noticed something still wasn’t right. Complicating her recovery was the fact that the COVID-19 pandemic shut down sports activities affecting several seasons, meaning Chambers did not have an opportunity to race between February 22, 2020 and February 21, 2021.  Still, she persevered through her challenges.

“By my second year after surgery, when I was putting in more work over the summer, increasing my mileage, I returned to campus in the fall and wasn’t improving as I should have been,” said Chambers.  “For the amount of work I was putting in, I should have been performing better.  And I realized I wasn’t actually feeling all that great physically.  My legs were super tired and heavy."

The fatigue Chambers experienced cropped up in all aspects of her training.

“I got through cross country, but when we started training in the winter I would get 200m into an interval workout and feel like I was gasping for air,” said Chambers.  “And I wasn’t that out of shape.  You know where you’re supposed to be in a workout and who you train with and I just wasn’t there.  I was so upset and I didn’t understand what I was doing wrong.  I spoke with Coach Jones and we decided I should see a doctor.  About a week-and-a-half later I got the results that my iron levels were three.”

Chambers was told normal blood-iron levels are around 30.  Several of her teammates were iron-deficient as well, but none with as low a reading. The only comparable case with a personal connection to her was former teammate Hannah Reinhardt, who registered a similar number a few years prior.

“I’m so thankful for Coach Jones,” said Chambers.  “He always believes in his athletes, and he believed in me more than I believed in myself. He’s a huge reason I didn’t give up. And he wanted to help figure it out. And he’s the same way when any of his athletes have injuries.  And I’m glad I advocated for my own health or I may still be looking for answers.”

With a diagnosis in hand, Chambers elected to undergo the infusion treatment, following the same path Reinhardt took after her own diagnosis.  Infusions would deliver faster results than taking iron supplements. The treatment took four weeks, but provided swift results

“Everything clicked super quickly after my treatments,” said Chambers.  “And it was a relief to learn that I wasn’t burning out or had hit my peak.”

The Chambers File

Progression
800m: 2:23.93 -> 2:21.48 -> 2:17.28
1,500m: 4:50.69 -> 4:31.61 -> 4:31.49 -> 4:27.01
Mile: 5:24.69 -> 4:57.94
3,000m: 11:22.15 -> 9:55.13 -> 9:50.09
5,000m: 19:47.17 -> 17:07.50 -> 16:33.43

Cross Country Program Rankings
5K: #12 – 17:43.50
6K: #13 – 21:34.70

Indoor Program Rankings
3,000m: #10 – 9:50.09
5,000m: #7 – 17:07.50

Outdoor Program Rankings
1,500m: #3 – 4:27.01
5,000m: #3 – 16:33.43

To an outside observer, the point at which Chambers appeared to turn a corner appeared to be the 2022 Paul Short Run during the cross country season.  Chambers had never run a 6K as a Great Dane, yet she finished in 21:34.70.  Only 20 women in program history had ever run under 22 minutes for the distance. Chambers, while acknowledging the significance of her result at Paul Short, points to another race: the 2022 Freihofer’s Run for Women.

“It wasn’t specifically the time at Freihofer’s last year that told me something had changed,” said Chambers.  “In high school, I was running 4:40 or so in the 1,500m but had never broken 19:00 on the new Freihofer’s course.  But last year I ran 18:25, and my 1,500m was still 4:50.  I still wasn’t really near any of my PRs and I had improved by 40 seconds.”

If Freihofer’s was the soft opening for Chambers’ return to form, Paul Short was its arrival.  The annual race, hosted by Lehigh University, is the largest UAlbany competes in by number of competitors in the race, which can exceed 400.  It is also traditionally the only meet during the regular season where the women bump up to compete at the 6K distance before the postseason NCAA events.  Twelve of UAlbany’s top-20 times in program history have been run on Lehigh’s course.

Three Great Danes, Chambers, Tess Fitzmaurice, and Noreen Guilfoyle, each broke 22 minutes at Paul Short this year.  Chambers knew she was running a good race when she and Guilfoyle passed the 5K marker in under 18 minutes. 

“Noreen was right next to me at that point and she turned to me and said ‘Okay, we gotta go!’ and I just took off,” said Chambers. 

Chambers credits her teammates for helping her through her long recovery period.  She reached out to Reinhardt following her diagnosis for advice, and she is Fitzmaurice’s direct training partner.  She also particularly appreciates the support she received from Guilfoyle and from former teammates Sydney Coddington and Sam Rutt, as well as former longtime teammate Kirsten Kaminski, who reunited with Chambers from their time together at Colonie High School after transferring into UAlbany from St. John’s.

Proving her performance at Lehigh was not a one-off, Chambers backed it up a month later at the America East Cross Country Championships.  She placed 10th overall, earning All-Conference Second Team accolades, and becoming the 19th woman in program history to break 18 minutes for 5K in program history.

With the cross country season winding down, the focus turns to the indoor track & field season. In recent years, UAlbany has entered its athletes in one or two meets in early December, prior to the long winter intersession.  This allows cross country runners an opportunity to race while still holding their championship season fitness, and give the track & field athletes their first opportunity to compete at all since the spring. 

“Coach Jones does a good job of keeping our speed up throughout the year,” said Chambers, “but I was a little nervous about adjusting to the speed change with the end of the cross country season moving into the indoor season. 

Chambers did not miss a beat with the sport changeover.  In each of her first two meets, December 3 at Army West Point and December 9 at New Balance’s new indoor facility in Boston, she set meet records in the 3,000m and 5,000m, respectively.  Upon returning from winter break, Chambers set a personal record in one of her events in each meet she competed in before America East Indoor Championships.

But the indoor season was not without its complications.  After setting a new personal record in the mile in January, and despite continuing to improve in other events, Chambers’ times in the event started trending backwards. This culminated in Chambers missing out on qualifying for finals in the mile at ECAC Indoor Championships, where she placed 22nd in 5:07.73, her slowest time in the event of her season.

Chambers bounced back the very next day however, anchoring UAlbany’s distance medley relay team that placed third overall in 11:43.55, the second-best time in program history. Chambers split 4:54 over 1,600m on the anchor leg.

Outdoors, now even further removed from her surgery and her diagnosis, Chambers continued to improve. She opened the season with a lifetime bests in both the 800m and 1,500m, and two weeks later set a personal best in the 5,000m.

Perhaps the highlight of her outdoor season came at the Penn Relays.  Penn is the biggest meet of the outdoor season, and Chambers had earned a bid into the championship women’s 5,000m.  She was one of two Great Danes to compete on Penn’s first day, with her event going off later in the evening while the bulk of her participating teammates were still on the bus traveling to the meet from Albany.  Chambers ultimately placed 26th overall in the elite field, taking 31 more seconds off her best time to 16:33.43.  It was the third-best time in program history outdoors.

Just two weeks later, after securing All-Conference honors with a runner-up finish in the 5,000m at the America East Outdoor Championships, Chambers would cross the line in the 1,500m in the third-best time in program history.

“I’m happy and I’m excited, but I still think there is so much more,” said Chambers.  “This year was almost like a learning experience for me, discovering where I can really go.  And after this last season I feel like there are even more barriers I can break. I try to set the example, as a leader on our team, especially for the younger members, that they can look at what I’ve been able to accomplish in just one year, and that can be them.”

Chambers impressive performance athletically is mirrored with her efforts in the classroom and in the community.  Such efforts began in high school when she took a class where she helped special needs students learn arts and crafts.  Now a  graduate student pursuing her Master’s degree in Public Health, Chambers has earned her place on the America East Academic Honor Roll.  She is a member of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, and has volunteered around the Capital District, including with the Mental Health Games and the Hudson-Mohawk Road Runners Club.  This year, Chambers visited two local middle schools to read to fifth- and sixth-graders, and spoke to young runners about her running experience at a third.  Finally, Chambers recently started an internship with the New York State Department of Health in dental insurance health policy, looking to develop education plans to reduce early childhood dental issues.

“When I think about it and when I reflect on everything, I just know there is more out there,” Chambers continued.  “I’m healthy, I’ve been healthy for a year, and I have a solid year of training under my belt.  My joy for the sport was gone for a long, long time, and my teammates, coaches, and parents helped get me back here.  I can’t wait to see what happens next.”

Six weeks ago, at the 2023 Freihofer’s Run for Women, Chambers finished in 16:59.

The awards gala for the Capital District Sports Women of the Year Class of 2023 will be held at the GE Theatre at Proctors in Schenectady on August 7 at 7:00 pm.  Tickets for the event are now on sale at the Proctors box office or online at proctors.org.

The Capital District Sports Women of the Year organization (CDSWOY) honors the best and brightest female student athletes from high schools and colleges in the Capital District of New York State. The student-athletes will be recognized for their achievements in academics, athletics, and community service. More information is provided at the website: cdswoy.com.