Women's Indoor Track & Field Picked to Finish Second in the Northeast Conference; Men Tabbed Third

12/22/04 -- Long Island University’s women’s indoor track and field team was picked to finish second in the Northeast Conference based on a vote by the league’s coaches and the men’s squad was selected to place third. The vote comes one year after both squads closed in second place.

The women’s squad returns all three of its winners from last year’s NEC Indoor Championships. Senior Chioma Ukpai (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) was named the meet’s most outstanding track performer by winning the 60-meter hurdles in 8.65 seconds and the 60-meter dash in 7.83 seconds, just 0.01 seconds ahead of classmate Rea Tobitt (Staten Island, N.Y.).

Tobitt claimed her gold medal by taking the 200-meter dash in 25.21 seconds.

Monmouth was a unanimous pick to win the women’s championship.

The men’s team won gold seven times last year. Junior Bryan Steele (Gaithersburg, Md.) posted two victories, winning the 500-meter dash in an NEC Championship record time of 1:02.98. He was part of the victorious 4x400-meter relay team which also consisted of present assistant coach Richard James, junior Jabari Bush (Baltimore, Md.) and senior Allandro Pierre (Brooklyn, N.Y.).

Senior Ike Cartledge (Forestville, Md.) established a conference championship record of his own in the 800-meter dash, capturing the crown in 1:52.08. Shaun Johnson (Ontario, Canada) won the 60-meter dash in 6.87 seconds and fellow senior Ashley Carter-Sinclair (Staten Island, N.Y.) took the triple jump with a leap of 14.30 meters.

LIU received a first-place vote and Monmouth was picked to win the crown.

The 2005 NEC Championships will take place February 12-13 at the Prince George’s Sports and Learning Complex in Landover, Md.