ALBANY, N.Y. – Outdoor track's 2018 championship season begins this weekend with the America East Outdoor Championships. The University at Albany will look to defend both the men's and women's titles from last season, while extending long winning streaks of 13 for the men and nine for the women.
Last weekend, the team competed at the Penn Relays in Philadelphia and the Capital District Classic at RPI. Penn Relays began first, covering three days late last week. The Great Danes came away with three school records and one event victory in three days in Philadelphia.
“This was our best performance as a team ever at Penn Relays for both the men and women,” said Director of Track & Field and Cross Country Roberto Vives. “We set three school records, including twice in one event with two different teams. We finished third in the women's 4x100m Championship of America. That was incredible, beating some top teams from major conferences. There, we were really the second collegiate team. G.C. Foster, who finished second, is a Jamaican team where Junior graduated. We had a men's hurdler under 14 seconds. Our women's 4x400m went from 3:47 to 3:39. The 46.08 split from Myles in the men's 4x400m is the fastest split by a UAlbany athlete ever. Hannah Reinhardt set a new school record in the 3,000m and Cara Sherman ran the third fastest time ever in the same race. Devon recorded a 51' triple jump, and Kingsley won the College high jump. All in all it was a really, really good meet.”
The women's 4x100m was arguably the marquee event of the meet for the Great Danes. Last year, the quartet of Stephanie Osuji, Dayleen Santana Rodriguez, Chanel Smith, and Taahira Butterfield won the College Division final. Since then, the team had set their sights on qualifying for the Championship of America final, a goal they realized last week. They placed third overall, running down Clemson in the final leg in both the preliminary round and in the finals, setting a new school record of 44.83.
“If you stay focused and committed to something you can achieve your goals,” said Vives. “Last year they felt like they were pretty good. This year they were confident and running with everyone in the race. They have something good going on.”
Elsewhere in the meet, Sidney Gibbons set a new personal best in the men's 110m hurdles in his second and third consecutive races, starting with his 14.15 victory in UAlbany's Spring Classic. He hit 14.05 in the trials and broke the 14-second barrier in the finals, finishing fifth overall in 13.94.
“Sidney pressed a little on the first day,” said Vives. “When you chase something so much you tend not to relax. He came off the last hurdles and was already leaning. Indoors there may be two steps to the finish line after the last hurdle but outdoors there are closer to seven. In the finals he ran straight through the finish line. I saw Jeff York at the meet at RPI, and he said that Sidney ran the exact same time, 13.94, and placed the same, fifth as he did at Penn 20 years ago.”
The Great Danes' lone event-winner at Penn was Kinglsey Ogbonna, who won the College division of the men's high jump. He's the first UAlbany individual event champion since former teammates Alex Bowen and Grace Claxton won the men's championship high jump and the women's championship 400m hurdles, respectively.
“Kingsley cleared 6-11.50, and his final attempt at 7-01.00 was really close,” said Vives. “He's back and I think the weekend was huge for his confidence. He got the crowd around the back straightaway going and clapping for him and went out and got a great result.”
UAlbany's first day at Penn finished with a school record in the women's 3,000m. Hannah Reinhardt broke a 21-year-old mark of 9:39.34 by Tonya Dodge to place ninth overall. Her teammate, Cara Sherman, placed 12th in 9:40.33, good for the third-fastest outdoor 3,000m in school history.
“We looked up the record right before Hannah's race. We thought it was 9:33 from Silvia Del Fava, but that was an indoor mark. When we saw the outdoor mark was 9:39 from Tonya Dodge I remembered the race. She was one of the best distance runners we had at the Division III level and she ended up being a 10:06 steeplechaser after college. She ran 4:49-4:50, and I told Tonya you couldn't run a 3,000m more evenly than that. But I thought both Hannah and Cara had a chance to break that mark. They both did really well.”
Finally, the women's 4x100m relay quartet returned for the 4x200m relay. After breaking the school record set at last year's Penn Relays in this year's preliminary round, the team broke the record again in the Championship of America final with a slightly different makeup after Jahari Coleman replaced Stephanie Osuji.
“The first day with the 4x200m the goal was to qualify for finals,” said Vives. “That group had just run 44.8 in the 4x1 less than an hour before. We had planned to replace to of the relay members to limit the amount of racing they did a week before conference championships. We ended up replacing just one. Jahari, a sophomore, stepped in after spending her time warming up with the 4x100m relay over the previous two days as one of their alternates. We gave her an opportunity to run and be part of a record-setting team.”
The remainder of the team competed across town at RPI's Capital District Classic. The Great Danes won 14 events at the meet as most of the competing student-athletes participated in a single, secondary event ahead of this weekend's conference championships.
“The weather wasn't great at RPI on Sunday, so it was a tough day,” said Vive. “I'm glad we got through without getting anyone injured. We needed to do the work. We put most of the kids in just one event, and we got out of it what we were looking for.”
Conference championships herald the start of track & field's championship season. For outdoor, that encompasses America East, IC4A/ECAC, NCAA East Preliminary, and NCAA Championships over the next six weeks.
Both the men and the women are defending champions from 2017. Last year, the men won their 13th-consecutive outdoor title, defeating runner-up UMBC 166-139. The women won their ninth-straight, defeating runner-up New Hampshire 198-140. From those teams, the men return three defending event champions and 103 of 166 points scored, while the returning women can defend six event titles and 157 of 198 points scored.
“We always compete for championships,” said Vives. “We're going to be up to compete. The women look like the cream of the conference. It's almost unreal the team we have. The men will see a battle. Looking preliminarily, there are two teams, UMass Lowell and us, who are capable of scoring 190 points. It will come down to who makes fewer mistakes, who is healthier, who has breakthroughs, and who nabs those eighth-place finishes. Those things will make a big difference. But it's exciting. Having a competitive conference is good and it really shows the nature of the team if they can rise up and compete.
“We don't emphasize point scoring or trying to break scoring records,” Vives continued. “For us it's just the culmination of a season and putting our best foot forward at our conference championship and asking people to step up for their team. This is one time where we come together for a team goal.”
Indoors, the women won their sixth-straight America East title, defeating runner-up Stony Brook 215-124. The men saw their 12-year winning streak snapped due to a mishap at the conclusion of the men's 4x400m that would have secured the title for UAlbany.
“What happened indoors was unfortunate, but we're putting that on the back burner,” said Vives. “I'm looking for us to go and be focused on ourselves and what we need to do instead of looking at it as a revenge meet. I want them to take pride in being their best on that given day and competing and giving the best that they have. Wherever the results lie, that's where it is. Anything else is a distraction. We want to perform with class and not get into the weeds.”
The men expect to see stiff competition from indoor champion UMass Lowell, as well as last year's outdoor runner-up UMBC, who will host this year's outdoor championship.
“UMBC finished second last year and they looked really good last weekend in their relays,” said Vives. “Their people are really rounding into shape and they'll receive a bump from being at home. They'll be in the mix. Sometimes you can get a 20-30 point bump at home and suddenly you're in the thick of it.”
New Hampshire's women's team is always a threat, particularly the Wildcats' distance program headlined by Elinor Purrier, who is arguably the best distance runner in the country. Stony Brook has been coming on strong in recent season, and expects to offer the Great Danes a challenge as well.
“Stony Brook has people in the jumps and the sprints and the hurdles. They're always a strong team and getting better. New Hampshire has that tremendous distance program. Binghamton has some key people here and there.”
Heading into this weekend's championships, the men lead the America East in nine events and have 34 separate performances within the top eight in the conference, signifying, on paper, a scoring position. The women lead in 12 events and have 47 top-eight performances.
“I give credit to our coaches,” said Vives. “We're really prepared at this time of year. People have been smarter about how we enter our student-athletes in meets. We've rested people. The team is peaking at the right time. We always seem to see major breakthroughs at conference.
“We need to minimize mistakes and stay healthy,” Vives continued. “The mentality is everybody counts. We can't just depend on our top competitors. We need people to break in, to make finals that were sitting in 10th or 11th. And we need to score in all the events that we're in.”
America East Outdoor Championships begin Saturday, May 5 at 10:00 a.m. on UMBC's campus. Both days of the meet can be streamed live on AmericaEast.tv.
