University of Albany Track & Field's Beauvais, Adaramola, Wills and Johnson Receive America East Weekly Awards - UAlbany Sports 2010

Cambridge, Mass. - University at Albany's Alie Beauvais, Fey Adaramola, Freddie Wills and Kadine Johnson were named America East Conference track and field performers of the week, as announced on Tuesday, Jan. 12 by the league office. All four Great Danes are being recognized for their efforts at last weekend's Yale Intercollegiate Track Classic and Carleton Crowell Open.

Beauvais, who was named the male track performer of the week, met two IC4A standards at Yale which were also America East bests this winter. Individually, he placed second among 67 competitors in the 400-meter dash by crossing the tape in 48.89 seconds. The senior captain, who fell one spot shy of garnering All-America honors in his last collegiate appearance at the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships, also anchored the victorious 4x400-meter relay which registered a winning time of 3:18.02. Beauvais ran a 48.8-second split, which helped the Great Danes beat out second-place Connecticut of the Big East Conference by .39 seconds in the field of 23 squads.

Adaramola, who earned female track performer of the week laurels, eclipsed two ECAC qualifying marks at Yale which were also the fastest times in the conference this season. The senior captain placed second among 41 runners in the 60-meter dash by finishing with a blistering time of 7.59, just .01 seconds shy of the winner from Connecticut and .04 seconds short of matching Ellakisha Williamson's school record. Adaramola also anchored the 4x400-meter relay team that finished second among 19 squads in 3:51.55 and just .17 seconds shy of first-place UConn. With Adaramola's split time of 55.9, the Great Danes' runner-up finish was the America East's first ECAC qualifying mark of the winter and almost six seconds better than Boston University's previous conference-best time of 3:57.35.

Wills earned male field performer of the week honors for his first-place finish in the heptathlon at Army's Carleton Crowell Open. The senior captain accumulated 4,807 points, which qualified him for IC4As. Wills, the America East decathlon champion last spring, won the long jump with a mark of 22-feet,10-inches, the high jump by clearing 6-7 and the 60-meter high hurdles in 8.64. In addition, he tied for first in the 60-meter dash by crossing the tape in 7.34. Wills' mark in the long jump was an America East best this season, while his performance in the high jump ranked second in the conference.

Johnson was awarded women's field performer of the week accolades for winning the weight throw and shot put at Army. Her mark of 55-8.25 in the weight throw shattered her own school record of 55-1 and qualified her for the ECAC Championship meet for the second straight year. It was also the best mark recorded by an America East student-athlete in the event this winter by almost two feet, and bettered the second-place finisher from Lehigh by almost seven feet. The junior's winning toss in the shot put was 40-0.50, which was also the second-best mark in the America East this season.

The UAlbany indoor track and field teams will compete at the Penn State Northeast Challenge on Saturday, Jan. 16. In addition to Penn State, the men's 11-team field is slated to feature five Big East Conference schools and four reigning conference champions. The women's 11-team field is scheduled to be made up of seven institutions from the Big 10 and Big East conferences, including 10th-ranked Penn State and 22nd-ranked West Virginia.


Courtesy: UAlbany Sports Information