March 7, 2011
17 Individuals and Two Relays Qualify for NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships
Men's Participants
Women's Participants
The NCAA Division III Men's and women's Track and Field Committee announced the qualifiers for the 2011 Division III Men's and Women's Indoor Track and Field Championships and the State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) will be well-represented with 17 individuals selected and two relay teams. The championship will be held Friday and Saturday, March 11-12, at Capital University in Columbus, Ohio.
Women's Participants
The NCAA Division III Men's and women's Track and Field Committee announced the qualifiers for the 2011 Division III Men's and Women's Indoor Track and Field Championships and the State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) will be well-represented with 17 individuals selected and two relay teams. The championship will be held Friday and Saturday, March 11-12, at Capital University in Columbus, Ohio.
On the men’s side, Cortland leads the way with four men making the trip and one relay team, followed by Buffalo State with three qualifiers. Geneseo has two individuals and one relay and Brockport, Fredonia and Plattsburgh are each sending one competitor.
Buffalo State sophomore Justin Allen will compete in two events, qualifying in both the 55 and 400-meter dashes. He enters the 400-meter race with the second fastest time in the nation at 48.14 and will be joined by Cortland senior Gino Bisceglia who is seeded third (48.57). Allen is ranked ninth in the 55-meters with a time of 6.42 and teammate Xavier Mateen has the second fastest time in the event of 6.38. Christopher Rones of Buffalo State earned a spot in the 55-meter hurdles, posting the eighth-fastest time in the nation (7.61).
Bisceglia will team up with Eric Banks, Zac Farnham-Haskell and Stephan Linton in the 4x400 meter relay as the tenth entrant in the event with a time of 3:18.88.
Bisceglia will team up with Eric Banks, Zac Farnham-Haskell and Stephan Linton in the 4x400 meter relay as the tenth entrant in the event with a time of 3:18.88.
The SUNYAC has the top times in the mile and 5000 meter run. Fredonia senior Nick Guarino owns the top time in the mile of 4:05.68 and will look to defend his national title in the event. Plattsburgh senior Mike Heymann will be searching for his first national title in the 5000 with a seed time of 14:16.65, seven seconds ahead of Geneseo’s Lee Berube (14.23.89). Heymann and Berube were the only two qualifiers of the 13 entered to hit an automatic qualifying time during the season as the third entrant is seeded at 14:30.53.
The Geneseo quartet of Berube, Kevin Bronson, Niko Brown and Mark Streb are ranked fourth in the distance medley relay with a time of 9:56.21, just four second behind the top time of 9:52.11 posted by Amherst.
The conference will have five men competing in the field events, including all three jumps. Cortland junior Tomas Velasquez will compete in the long jump where he is seeded sixth with a leap of 7.16 meters. Freshman Aaron Green qualified in the triple jump with the eighth best distance of 14.65 meters and Geneseo senior Mike McManus will be in the high jump event where he is ranked 12th, clearing a height of 2.05 meters.
Brockport senior Ray Lund posted an automatic qualifying toss of 18.85 meters in the weight throw to be seeded tenth and Cortland junior Ryan Pericozzi will compete in the pole vault event as the tenth seed with a height of 4.90 meters.
You can follow all of the action for this weekend’s championships at http://www.ncaa.com/championships/trackfield-indoor-men/d3
On the women’s side, five individuals will be headed to Columbus, Ohio from three different SUNYAC schools. Buffalo State’s Erica Johnson and Jessica Walker return to the NCAA stage for the second straight year and will compete in the 55-meter dash and the triple jump, respectively. Johnson finished as the runner-up in 2010 by .03 seconds but enters this year’s race with the nation’s top time of 7.07. Walker placed fourth in the triple jump last year and is ranked ninth this year with a jump of 11.58 meters.
Cortland freshman Sarah Bonnell will be joining Johnson in the 55-meter dash as the 13th entrant of 15 with a time of 7.26.
Oneonta junior Lauren Brunetto is making a return trip to the NCAA championships and sophomore Kacy Boburka is a first time qualifier. Brunetto enters the 800-meter run with the ninth fastest time this season of 2:14.41. She finished sixth in the event last year. Boburka will be seeded third in the high jump entering the meet with her height of 1.70 meters.
You can follow all of the action for this weekend’s championships at http://www.ncaa.com/championships/trackfield-indoor-women/d3
