Nine UAlbany Track & Field Athletes Earn Berths to NCAA East Preliminary Round

Albany, N.Y. - University at Albany's Laura Cummings, one of the leading competitors in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, leads a group of nine track and field athletes who will compete at the NCAA East Preliminary Round on May 27-29. The three-day regional meet will be held at North Carolina A&T State University's Irwin Belk Track in Greensboro, N.C. Five men and four women who helped UAlbany become the first school to capture all four America East Conference men's and women's track and field championships in the same academic year will travel to the regional.

The top-12 finishers in each event will automatically qualify for the NCAA Championship, hosted by the University of Oregon on June 9-12. A total of 48 student-athletes will compete in each individual event, while 24 schools were accepted to run in each relay.

Joining Cummings as qualifiers are Fey Adaramola, Catie Coxon, Wilfredo de Jesus Elias, Tyler Fogarty, Valete Graham, Kadeem Howell, Jenn Pierson and Freddie Wills. Under the newly-adopted regional format by the NCAA, the nine Great Danes qualified for the meet by ranking among the East Region's top-48 declared athletes in their respective events. The region encompasses over 200 schools from universities located east of the Mississippi River and will feature approximately 2,500 student-athletes. In previous years, the NCAA conducted four regional meets that led to the national championship.

Cummings and Pierson have been the America East Conference's premier runners in the women's 3,000-meter steeplechase throughout the spring and rank 22nd and 27th, respectively, in the East Region. Cummings, a senior from Bay Shore, N.Y., broke her own school record by placing 10th in 10:29.27 at the ECAC Championship last weekend. She also finished second at this year's America East championships and won the event at the Duke Invitational. Pierson, a native of Brentwood, N.Y. who is competing in the event for the first time at any level this spring, most recently placed 11th behind Cummings in 10:30.30 at ECACs. She also won the individual title at the America East championships in 10:40.46. Cummings and Pierson, along with Coxon, are attempting to become the first UAlbany women to qualify for NCAAs since 2004.

Graham, a three-time America East champion in the long jump, should be primed to advance after coming just one centimeter shy of automatically qualifying for NCAAs in the event last year. The senior's winning leap of 24-7.75 at this year's America East championship has him tied for 29th in the East Region. The native of Bronx, N.Y. also won the event at "The Dogfight," a dual meet against the University of Connecticut, and finished eighth at IC4As. Redshirt freshman Kadeem Howell, a Great Neck, N.Y. native, who placed second behind Graham in the long jump at the America East meet with a mark of 24-1.75, will also compete in the event.

de Jesus Elias and Coxon will represent the Great Danes in throwing events. A native of Arroyo, Puerto Rico, de Jesus Elias recently broke his own school record in the men's hammer throw by placing third with a mark of 201-feet, 11-inches at the IC4A Championship. The toss is 23rd in the region's performance list. The junior also earned all-conference honors for the third straight season by placing third at the America East Championship and won the event at the UMass Nine-Way Meet and the Friendship Meet with the University of Technology of Kingston, Jamaica. Coxon's winning mark of 157-3 in the women's discus throw at the Capital District Classic ranks 46th in the East Region. The Delanson, N.Y. native, was also the America East discus throw champion by registering a toss of 147-11, garnering all-league laurels for the second consecutive year.

Fogarty, a junior who will compete in the men's 800-meter run, owns the 31st best time in the East Region. His top mark of 1:49.40 was registered at the Friendship Meet. The native of Clifton Park, N.Y., also won the event at the UMass Nine-Way Meet in leading the Great Danes to the team title and was the America East 1,500-meter champion.

Senior captains Fey Adaramola and Freddie Wills round out the list of UAlbany competitors and will compete in the women's 200-meter dash and men's high jump, respectively. Adaramola, a native of Bronx, N.Y., placed second in the 200m at the America East Championship in 24.19 seconds and ran a season-best time of 23.94 to advance to the finals at ECACs. She was also the America East 100-meter dash champion for the second straight season. Wills, who hails from Londonderry, N.H., won the conference high jump by clearing 6-9.75, which was a personal best at the America East competition.

Courtesy: UAlbany Sports Information