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A week after running at the Penn State National Invite, the Retrievers head up to New York City to compete in the Armory Collegiate Invite, which is one of the most prestigious meets in the country. With many Top 25 teams and Nationally Ranked individuals in attendance, coupled with a UMBC team that has either set or almost eclipsed numerous school marks thus far, this weekend could be a historic one for the Track and Field teams. The sprints will be dominated by the veteran women and youth on the men’s side this weekend. All American Mercedes Jackson will look to break through against some of the competition she faced at the National Meet last year. Having set solid marks throughout the season, she looks poised to have national level performance. Dueling school record holders Kirsten Jones (400m) and Paulette Fogle (500m) should challenge their school record marks in their marquee events, while the fast improving Deborah Adelola (500m), Briana Young (400m) and Kalane Abbey (400m) might have the biggest impact for the team at the Conference level. The men will be led by freshman Erick Soetje who looks to move onto the All Time lists in the 400 meter, and veteran Sean Cooper will be continuing his quest to regain IC4A qualifying status. In the distance events Andrew Smith will make a run for a time that would guarantee a spot at the National meet in 800 meters a weekend after setting the 13 th best mark in the country last weekend. Jake Albino (Mile/1000m) and Hassan Omar (5,000m) will give another go at setting school marks in their main events after missing out last weekend by a combined total of less than a second. The women will again feature Cody Mezebish and Sarah Daly pulling double duty in both the 1,000 meters and 800 meters, which could end with the fastest two times in school history in both events. Finally watch for the four headed monster in the women’s 5,000 meter with Nicole Dawson, Kirsten McGovern, Harmony Roche, and Sarah Zielinski trying to go under eighteen minutes. The throws will feature the continued success of Thor Serafenas who moved into striking distance of his PR in the weight throw last weekend while the continued maturation of Nmeoma Edokobi into one of the Conference elite. Mo Drammeh will return to competition after training through the past two meets and will be seeking yet another IC4A qualification. Alisha Beeman will return to the casual schedule of individual events competing in the high and long jumps after setting the school mark in the pentathlon. 2013-14 Indoor Schedule: December 7th, 2013 Bison Opener Bucknell University January 11th, 2014 Penn State Relays Penn State University January 18th, 2014 Terrapin Invite/Navy Quad PGSLC January 24th, 2014 NYC Team Challenge NYC Armory January 25th, 2014 Patriot Games George Mason Invite Jan. 31st- Feb. 1st, 2014 Penn State National Invite Penn State University February 7th-8th, 2014 Armory Collegiate Invite NYC Armory February 14th, 2014 Rider/Lafayette Invite NYC Armory February 23rd-24th, 2014 America East Championships NYC Armory March 8th-9th, 2014 IC4A/ECAC Championships Boston University March 14th-15th, 2014 NCAA Indoor Championships Albuquerque, NM Penn State National Invite: Andrew Smith set the school record again in the 800m with a 1:49.15 Jake Albino ran the #4 All Time 4:08.97 in the mile Hassan Omar ran the #2 All Time mark in the 5k going 14:40 Vincent Rentzsch scored a personal best 4,814 in the heptathlon Mercedes Jackson won the 200m dash and finished sixth in the 60m dash Kirsten Jones placed 3 rd in the 400m with a 56.44 Deborah Adelola ran a personal best 1:14.96 in the 500 meters Catilyn Davis vaulted a #2 All Time 10-6.75 in the vault. Women’s 4x4 set a season best 3:46.18 while the men got a season’s best 3:19.92 Mercedes Tillman sets a personal best 59.49 (400m) and Marie Yuille sets a personal best (1:19.20) in the 500m. Kalane Abbey With so many talented women on this year’s team, sometimes consistent success gets overlooked. A multi-time scorer at the Conference meet, Abbey ran a PR of 56.93 at the Outdoor AEC meet to finish 6 th in addition to running a leg on multiple school record 4x400 meter relay. Abbey will look to improve upon her #5 standing in the AEC from earlier in the year and potentially eclipse her PR from last year. Armory collegiate invite Meet Preview
