AIC Wins Five of the NE10's Six Regional Awards
MANSFIELD, Mass. – The Northeast-10 was well represented as the USTFCCCA announced its regional awards on Friday afternoon and the NE10 claimed six of a possible eight awards.
Following an impressive showing at the NCAA Track & Field Championships last weekend, American International claimed five of the six awards won by the NE10. Callum Elson and Roxan Foster swept the Track Athlete of the Year awards, while Yvan Lopes Ribeiro won Men's Field Athlete of the Year. AIC head coach Logan Sharpe earned Women's Head Coach of the Year recognition while Nick Aguila was selected as the Men's Assistant Coach of the Year. Southern Connecticut's John Wallin was honored as the Men's Head Coach of the Year.
Elson was crowned the NCAA DII champion in the mile, running 4:08.59. He also ran the mile leg of the DMR squad that finished fourth (9:39.26). Elson went sub-4:00 in the mile at the David Hemery Valentine Invitational, running 3:59.71. His time made him the sixth-best performer in NCAA DII history. Elson was the NE10 champion in the mile, runner-up in the 3000 and ran the 800-meter leg on the champion distance medley relay. and DMR, running the 800 leg.
Foster finished sixth in the 60-meter hurdles at the NCAA DII Indoor Track & Field Championships with a seasonal-best mark of 8.58. Just a few weeks earlier, Foster captured NE10 titles in both the 60 and 60H to help American International win their first NE10 Championship. Foster also qualified for the 60 at the NCAA DII Championships.
Lopes Ribeiro was an NCAA qualifier in the long jump, triple jump and 60H, but ultimately settled to not do the triple jump. He earned First-Team All-American honors in the 60H with a seventh-place finish and Second-Team honors in the long jump finishing ninth. Lopes Ribeiro had a great NE10 Championships outing, winning the long jump (7.63m), triple jump (15.45m) and the 60H (7.95). His long jump mark ranks fifth-best this season and is the NE10 record and American International school record.
Wallin, in his 12th year at Southern Connecticut, led the Owls to the NE10 Championship and the 225 points the Owls scored is the fourth-highest point total scored in conference history. Southern Connecticut had the highest number of All-Region selections across all of NCAA DII with 38 plaudits. Wallin coached four individuals and two relays to qualify for the NCAA Championships, with three of those individuals being nationally ranked in the top-10 of their respective events. The Owls were the top-ranked team in the NE10 and East Region throughout the duration of the season.
Sharpe, in his first year at American International, led the Yellow Jackets to their NE10 Indoor Championship with 132 points. The Yellow Jackets' had the ninth-ranked 60H group in the Pre-Championships edition of the Event Squad Rankings, highlighted by All-American hurdler Roxan Foster, who finished sixth at the NCAA Championships. Sharpe's women earned 16 USTFCCCA All-Region honors and two All-American accolades, the most in the region in both categories. The Yellow Jackets also tallied the most NCAA provisional marks in the region with five.
Aguila, in his first year as assistant coach at American International, coached the Yellow Jackets' distance crew to No. 1 regional Event Squad Rankings in the 800, mile, 3000 and 5000 – all among the top-10 nationally as well. Tops individually were Callum Elson (national champ in the mile) and Clement Paillon (runner-up in the 800), the latter with the nation's fastest time, which is rated among the top-10 all-time in DII history.
ABOUT THE NE10
The NE10 is an association of 14 diverse institutions serving student-athletes across 24 NCAA Division II sports. Together we build brilliant futures by embracing the journey of every student-athlete.
Each year, 4,500 of those student-athletes compete in conference championships in 24 sports, making the NE10 the largest DII conference in the country in terms of sport sponsorship. Leading the way in the classroom, on the field and within the community, the NE10 is proud of its comprehensive program and the experience it provides student-athletes.
