QU Women’s Indoor Track & Field to Compete in 2016 MAAC Championships at The Armory on Sunday, Feb. 21

The Quinnipiac University women's indoor track and field team will travel to New York City to compete in the 2016 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Women's Indoor Track & Field Championships on Sunday, February 21 at The Armory.

MAAC.TV will provide free live video coverage of the day's action which is scheduled to begin at 9:00 AM. In addition the MAAC will provide links to make race results available in real time once the competition is underway on Sunday morning.

THE FIELD
Quinnipiac will compete against Canisius, Iona, Manhattan, Marist, Monmouth, Rider and Saint Peter's at the 2016 MAAC Championship.

THE 2015 MAAC CHAMPIONSHIP
Monmouth University swept both the men's and women's 2015 MAAC Championships in convincing fashion. The Hawks scored 166.5 points in the women's events, defeating second place Rider by 60 points, while also claiming the men's title with 220 points. Rounding out the remainder of the Top 8 in the women's championships was Quinnipiac, Manhattan, Iona, Saint Peter's, Marist and Canisius. The biggest mover from 2014 to 2015 was the Bobcats who moved up three spots from sixth to third in the championship stnadings.

THE ARMORY
Dedicated to the growth and development of the sport throughout the years, the Armory Foundation has supplied an opportunity for inner city children to grow as individuals inside one of the greatest track and field venues in the country. The New Balance Track & Field Center – a 60,000 square foot arena with an Olympic caliber track – boasts one of the fastest tracks in the world. The spectacular venue offers seating for 4,000 spectators which allows for the chance to host more than 100 track meets each year as more than 125,000 athletes of all ages participate and visit The Armory annually.

QUINNIPIAC AT THE CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIPS
Now in her seventh year at the helm of the Quinnipiac track & field program, Carolyn Martin has lifted the Bobcats to new heights as the team has reached newfound success in the last three seasons and hopes to continue its upwards trajectory in this year's MAAC Championship. Just three seasons ago, Martin was named the 2013 Northeast Conference Coach of the Year after guiding the Bobcats to their best finish (6^th out of 11 teams) since 2007. She followed that up with another 6^th place finish in 2014, but made a big jump up to 3^rd place in 2015 which represented the highest jump of any MAAC school between two seasons. Shameal Samuels made history as she was named the 2015 MAAC Most Outstanding Women's Track Performer, becoming the first Bobcat in program history to take home conference Performer of the Year honors. Samuels dominated sweeping all three sprint events (60m, 200m, 400m) while the 3^rd place finish and 104 total points for Quinnipiac was the highest finish at a conference championship in program history.

QU TID-BITS

In her final year of competition, Shameal Samuels looks to make one final mark and finish her career as the most dynamic athlete in program history. Looking to repeat at the Most Outstanding Women's Track Performer for the second straight season, Samuels attempts to defend as the two-time reigning 400m champion as well as victories in the 60m and 200m in 2014
Already Quinnipiac's record holder in all three events, Samuels owns a share of five total program records as she also combined for the 4x200m and 4x400m relay records at Quinnipiac
Kaleigh Roberts has been tearing up the middle distance events in back-to-back weeks as she scored her first career individual victory in her first career appearance in the 1000m at Yale (2/6), running a time of 2:54.43 that ranks second on the all-time list at Quinnipiac
Roberts followed that up with a record-setting performance in the one mile run as she bested former All-American Kaitlyn Gwyther's previous program record (4:50.68) that had stood for over 10 years with a time of 4:50.06 at the Valentine Invitational (2/12)
Tracy Campbell followed the exact same trajectory as Roberts over the last two weeks as Campbell picked up the first individual victory of her career clocking in with a personal best time of 4:56.92 in the one mile event at Yale (2/6)
Campbell continued her recent hot streak with a new program record in the 1000m as she clocked in at 2:53.79 to best the previous program record (2:57.06) by more than three full seconds
Bonnie Pisciotta is coming off a program record 11.34m in the triple jump and is the type of all-around threat that can score in several events as her personal bests in the 60m (7.91), 200m (25.40), long jump (5.43m) and triple jump (11.34m) all stand ranked in the top five in the program's all-time record list
Quinnipiac possessed a major threat in the sprint event as Shameal Samuels (7.66), Francine Jacque (7.79), Jessica Lee (7.81), Alea Simons (7.83), Bonnie Pisciotta (7.91) and Leah Pfrommer (7.97) all come in with personal events of under eight seconds
Jessica Lee became a two-time career MAAC Women's Track Performer of the Week winner earlier this season as she combined with Carly Timpson (Women's Field Performer of the Week) for the first sweep of the weekly awards in program history
After taking fourth in the 60m hurdles at the 2015 MAAC Championships, Jessica Lee has had an incredible sophomore campaign with two individual victories in the 60m hurdles while she has also racked up a team-leading six Top 5 finishes this season
Carly Timpson gives the Bobcats a threat to compete in a pair of events (high jump and weight throw) as she is already the best high jumper (1.70m) as well as the first weight thrower (16.21m) in program history
Emily Wolff has a chance to do some damage in the distance events as she is capable of scoring in the 3000m (personal best of 9:55.41) and 5000m (17:15.81)
Cori Reid has enjoyed a breakout junior campaign as she has posted new personal bests in two events in which she has competed including the 500m (1:18.33) and 800m (2:16.56)
Leah Pfrommer is capable of contributing points in multiple events as she stands a chance in the 60m (7.97), 200m (25.93) and the long jump (5.55m) which is an event in which she currently holds the program record
Mackenzie Merkel has grown into her own this season as she easily broke her own program record with a throw of 12.03m in the shot put which easily bested her season high mark of 10.16m from 2014-15

Schedule

QU Women’s Indoor Track & Field to Compete in 2016 MAAC Championships at The Armory on Sunday, Feb. 21

Players Mentioned

Tracy Campbell

Francine Jacque

Jessica Lee

Mackenzie Merkel

Leah Pfrommer

Bonnie Pisciotta

Cori Reid

Kaleigh Roberts

Shameal Samuels

Alea Simons

Carly Timpson

Emily Wolff

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