Five USTFCCA Regional Award Winners
NEW ORLEANS - Four student-athletes and one assistant coach from the Empire 8 have earned United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Atlantic Regional Awards for the Indoor Track and Field season..
Each of the eight regions – which are the same as those used during the cross country season – honored both genders’ top track athletes and field athletes, and the top men’s and women’s head coaches and assistant coaches. The Empire 8 won five of a possible eight awards.
Award winners were determined by a vote of USTFCCCA member coaches. Only those individuals from USTFCCCA member programs are eligible for awards.
Men's Track Athlete of the Year - Nicodemus Gambill, Utica
Gambill, a junior from Rochester, New York, won titles at 60 meters and 200 meters at the Empire 8, NYSCTC and ECAC championship meets. He was named Empire 8 Track Athlete of the Meet. He will compete at the NCAA Championships over the 60 and 200-meter distances with seed times of 6.91 and 22.11.
Women's Track Athlete of the Year - Amy Regan, Stevens
Regan, a senior from Green Brook, New Jersey, just missed the NCAA DIII record at 5000 meters in 16:23, but still leads all DIII athletes this season in that event. She’s also No. 2 at 3000 meters on the qualifying list and No. 3 in the mile. She is undefeated at 5000 meters, including an Empire 8 title, and she anchored the DMR to a school record 12:04. She will compete both at 3000 and 5000 meters at the NCAA Championships.
Men's Field Athlete of the Year - Luis Rivera, Nazareth
Rivera, a senior from Rochester, New York, is the NCAA DIII leader in the weight throw by nearly two feet at 19.97m. No one has beaten him in his signature event this year, with wins at the Empire 8 and NYSCTC championship meets – both with marks that set overall and championship meet records.
Women's Field Athlete of the Year - Katherine Pitman, Ithaca
Pitman, a sophomore from Swampscott, Massachusetts, has come a long way in just her second year of pole vaulting. She enters the NCAA Championships as the top-ranked vaulter in DIII at 4.15m, breaking ECAC, NYSCTC and Empire 8 records along the way and winning titles in each of those meets.
Women's Assistant Coach of the Year - Mathew Scheffier, Ithaca
Scheffler, in his ninth year coaching pole vaulters at Ithaca, has coached Kat Pitman from having never competed in track & field in 2014 to the top of the DIII pole vault leaderboard in 2016. Pitman has cleared 4.15m and has won the Empire 8, ECAC and NYSCTC meets in record-setting fashion. His vaulters went 1-2-3-6 at the Empire 8 Championships, and 1-2-3 at the NYSCTC meet. He will have two vaulters at the NCAA Championships.
Each of the athletes are set to head to the NCAA Championship this weekend. Follow this
link to live results and go
here for live video. More information on this weekend's NCAA Championships
can be found here.