University of Albany Men’s Track Wins 11th Consecutive Outdoor Championship

ALBANY, N.Y. - The University at Albany men’s track & field program won its 11th consecutive America East Outdoor Championship meet, and its 12th in the last 13 years. The men scored 192.5 points to win the team competition. UMBC was second, scoring 126 points, and Binghamton placed third, scoring 113.5 points. After the first day of competition, the UAlbany men ranked first in the team standings with 52.5 points. Vermont ranked second with 38.5 points, and New Hampshire and Binghamton found themselves tied for third with 29 points each. Nathan Hiett, who successfully defended his pole vault title on Saturday, was the men’s first champion of the meet. The men’s decathlon began all Sunday events, starting at 9:00 a.m. UAlbany did not field any competitors in the event, so the Great Danes’ first events were the shot put and high jump at 10:00 a.m. In the shot put, Eric Del Vescovo placed fourth in 51’-7”. UAlbany swept the top two places in the high jump. Matthew Campbell placed first, clearing a height of 6’-10.25”, and Kingsley Ogbonna placed second, clearing 6’-8.25”. Track events began at 11:00 a.m. with the 4x100 relay. The team of Mande Semon, Jaymen Teemer, Taariq Jones, and Cherron Royal placed second in 41.56, just two hundredths of a second behind champion UMBC. Chris Buchanan placed fourth in the 1,500 in a personal-best 3:49.81. UAlbany swept the top two places in the 400. Last year’s champion and indoor 400 champion Taariq Jones successfully defended his title, crossing the line first in a facility record 47.35, just three hundredths of a second off his personal best. Jason Tomlinson, who won the 500 at indoor championships, placed second in 47.92. Devon Willis placed fourth in the 110 hurdles in a personal best 15.00. Kervens Dorsainvil placed seventh in 15.44, after setting a personal best in Saturday’s preliminary round. Youness Benzaid placed fifth in the 800 in 1:53.10. The final field events to be contested were the triple jump and the discus. In the triple jump, Willis placed first jumping a season-best 49’-10.5”. Jordan Crump-King placed second, recording a season-best mark of 49’-6.5”. Colonel Fakarode placed fourth, jumping a season-best 46’-8.75”. In the discus, Jonathan Eustache placed second in 155’-11”. Teemer won the 100 in a personal-best 10.72. Royal placed sixth in 11.08. Semon placed seventh in 11.09. Jeremiah Obeng-Agyapong placed third in the 400 hurdles in 53.09, two-hundredths off his season best mark form the preliminary round on Saturday. Teemer earned his second title of the day in the 200, finishing first in 21.46, just one-hundredth of a second behind his personal best. Royal placed third in 21.92. Jones placed seventh in 22.44. The Great Danes did not field a competitor in the 5,000, leaving only the 4x800 and 4x400 relays to close out the meet. The 4x800 team of Harold Lamour (1:55.5), Peter Schweitzer (1:58.6), Benzaid (1:53.2), and Simon Nwana (1:58.3) placed fourth with a time of 7:45.86. In the men’s 4x400, second runner Tomlinson pulled up around the first turn, ending the race for UAlbany. In addition to the team title, the men took home three championship awards, including Coaching Staff of the year for the men’s coaches, Most Outstanding Rookie for Devon Willis, and the Coaches’ Award for the highest point-scorer for Jaymen Teemer, who scored 22 points in three events. The men claimed victory in six events. Competitors across all schools set 10 facility records. The UAlbany men share in their title with their teammates on the women’s team, who won their seventh-consecutive title. With conference championships now over, the Great Danes look ahead to continuing deeper into the championship season. The first step will be to remain home for one more weekend, when UAlbany will host the Purple & Gold Last Chance Meet. Later in May, the team will visit Princeton for the IC4A Championships, and then North Florida for the NCAA East Regional Championships.