ALBANY, N.Y. – The UAlbany track & field program heads to two meets this weekend, with the multis athletes getting their first opportunity at their full events at the Blue & Orange Invitational at Utica University, and the rest of the team heading to The Armory for the prestigious Dr. Sander Invitational Columbia Challenge.
 
Dr. Sander Invitational Columbia Challenge
The Armory Track & Field Center
New York City
Friday: 10:00 am
Saturday: 9:00 am
Live Results | USATF.tv+
 
*The Dr. Sander Invitational will be broadcast live on Peackock from 12:00 pm to 2:00 pm on Saturday, January 27
 
Blue & Orange Invitational
Utica, N.Y.
Combined Events: 1/26, 5:00 pm
Track Events: 1/27, 10:00 am
Field Events: 1/27, 11:00 am
Live Results
 
Last Time at Dr. Sander and Blue & Orange
January 27-28, 2023 | For the first time in 2023, the UAlbany track & field program split up to compete at separate meets.  Most of the team went to the Dr. Sander Invitational Columbia Challenge, while the remaining competitors went to Utica University for the Blue and Orange Invitational.  The former meet saw Amanda Chambers continue to improve, taking five more seconds off her best time in the 3,000m, while Travis Williams scored another individual victory in the men's 60m.  In Utica, Tino Mancabelli set a personal best in heptathlon, with personal bests in the 60m, long jump, shot put, and pole vault to improve his best score to 4,475 points.
 
Last Time Out
UAlbany returned to action after a six-week layoff, marking the team's second trip to Boston of the indoor season, this time for the Battle in Beantown at Boston University.  Newcomers Hassan Abidi and Mikolaj Gancarz highlighted the meet for the Great Danes, setting new varsity and freshman class records, respectively, in the men's 600m.  Charlotte Moscovici also got in on the action, setting a new freshman class record in the women's pole vault.  Finally, Steph Green became just the fifth woman in program history to exceed 64' in the weight throw.
 
America East Event Leaders (W/M)
60m: Clarke (7.48) / S. Williams (6.73)
500m: X / Chery (1:05.75)
60m HH: X / Messado (8.02)
HJ: Benjamin (5-08.75) / Reynolds (6-09.00)
LJ: X / Quinn (23-08.75)
TJ: Nicholas (41-06.00) / X
SP: X / Robinson (57-11.00)
 
Northeast Top-8
Amelia Benjamin: HJ (2, 5-08.75)
Dominique Clarke: 60m (1, 7.48); 200m (5, 24.74)
Steph Green: WT (2, 64-05.25)
Jazmen Newberry: 60m (7, 7.59)
Leann Nicholas: TJ (3, 41-06.00)
Ja'Lil Reynolds: HJ (5, 6-09.00)
Travis Robinson: SP (5, 57-11.00)
Shavar Staats Jr.: 60m (5, 6.77)
Shak Williams: 60m (3, 6.73)
 
Indoor Program Records
12/3/23: Amelia Benjamin (HJ, 5-08.75, freshman, ties varsity)
12/3/23: Travis Robinson (SP, 57-11.00)
1/20/24: Hassan Abidi (600m, 1:18.56)
1/20/24: Charlotte Moscovici (PV, 10-08.75, freshman)
1/20/24: Mikolaj Gancarz (600m, 1:21.17, freshman)
 
600
UAlbany's first meet of 2024 brought forth a rewriting of the program record book in the men's 600m run.  Hassan Abidi set the overall school record, finishing second overall, and first among collegiate competitors, in 1:18.56.  He is just the second Great Dane in history to break 1:19.00 in the event.  His time also broke his own Tunisian indoor national record.  Behind Abidi, freshman Mikolaj Gancarz, in his first race in a UAlbany uniform, set the freshman class record, 1:21.17.
 
Millrose Bound
The UAlbany track & field program will, once again, have a presence at the biggest meet of the indoor season, the Millrose Games, at The Armory in New York City on February 11.  Shak Williams was accepted to compete in the men's 60m dash, while Steph Green and Kiki Nosile were each invited to participate in the Games' special weight throw session on Thursday.
 
#1
Following her performance in the first meet of the season, Leann Nicholas ranked first among all Division I competitors in her signature event, the triple jump recording a mark of 41-06.00.  Nicholas is the first Great Dane to hold a #1 ranking at any point during the indoor or outdoor season since Travis Williams in the men's 55m dash, en route, in 2023, and just the third woman during the program's Divison I era, after Grace Claxton (300m) and Venique Harris (discus).
 
Schedule Note
Once again, the 2023-24 UAlbany track & field schedule will not include an indoor home meet.  With the cross country season also not featuring a home meet for the Great Danes, the only time UAlbany will compete at home this season will be the Bobbi Palma Spring Classic, on April 19, during the outdoor season.
 
Coming Down
Continuing her resurgence, Amanda Chambers climbed the ladder of the programs cross country rankings, bringing her personal-best times down in both the 5K and the 6K during the 2023 cross country season.  She now ranks ninth all-time in the 5K and fourth in the 6K, adding to her three other top-10 rankings indoors and outdoors.  Chambers opened the indoor season lowering her 5,000m time once again, to 16:32.02, an improvement over her best time outdoors by more than one second.
 
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.
 
America East Indoor History
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.
 
Returning 2023 America East Indoor Champions
Dominique Clarke: 60m, 200m – W
Brinesha Derrick-Bain: 4x400m – W
Louis Gordon: Long Jump – M
Alicia Grady: 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
 
Next: UAlbany returns to Boston February 2-3 for the Crimson Elite Invitational at Harvard and the Bruce Lehane Scarlet & White Invitational.