University of Albany Sends Eighteen Athletes to NCAA East Regional Track & Field Championship - UAlbany Sports 2009

Courtesy: UAlbany Sports Information

Albany, N.Y. – University at Albany’s Joe Greene leads a group of 18 athletes, a program record, who will compete at the NCAA East Regional Track & Field Championship on May 29-30. The two-day regional meet will be held at North Carolina A&T State University’s Irwin Belk Track in Greensboro, N.C. Fourteen men and four women will travel to the regional.

The top five finishers in each event will automatically qualify for the NCAA Championship, hosted by the University of Arkansas on June 10-13. Student-athletes who place sixth or lower will be considered for an at-large selection to the national competition.

Joining Greene as qualifiers are Jeffery Barnes, Alie Beauvais, Joe Belokopitsky, Ricardo Estremera, Tyler Fogarty, Valete Graham, Jean Juste, Mike McCadney, John Moore, Andrew Overbaugh, Felipe Reyes, Peter Rowell, Luke Schoen, Fey Adaramola, Laura Cummings, Jenn Gurrant and Kamilah McShine.

Four members of the men’s squad are currently ranked in the region’s top five. Greene and Beauvais, who finished one-two in the 400-meter intermediate hurdles at the America East Conference and IC4A championship meets, are fourth and fifth on the region’s performance list, respectively. Greene was fourth in the 400m-hurdles at the 2007 NCAA national championship, but missed last year’s competition due to a leg injury. Schoen, an All-America pole vaulter who placed fifth at nationals in 2008, ranks third in the region, while Estremera, a two-time America East champion, is currently fourth in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. Greene, Schoen and Estremera have all broken the school record in their respective events this season.

The Great Danes have a pair of triple jumpers in Gurrant and McCadney who will also have a chance to qualify for nationals. Gurrant won the ECAC women’s indoor and outdoor titles and also eclipsed the school record this year. McCadney, who was victorious in the men’s triple jump at last year’s IC4A meet and is a two-time America East champion, placed second at the IC4A championship two weeks ago with a school-record performance. Gurrant and McCadney rank seventh and ninth in the region, respectively.

Kamilah McShine will compete in both the 100- and 400-meter hurdles. McShine, who won both events at the America East championships, is attempting to become the first UAlbany woman to qualify for the NCAAs since 2004. She was also second in both hurdles races at the ECAC meet.