The ECAC Championship Meet at Oneonta State finished extremely well for the women’s track & field team, as it placed sixth out of the 43 teams that competed, led by senior Jen Dias and her NCAA-qualifying time of 60.82 seconds in the 400-meter hurdles. Carol Scalice, another senior, nearly took the long jump with a final distance of 5.42 meters. Classmate Felicia Tsai threw 38.90 meters in the discus, good enough for second. She had already won the hammer throw event the previous day with an NCAA provisional distance of 51.63 meters.
The men didn’t fare as well, finishing 32nd out of 44. Strong performances from key individuals couldn’t save the day for the Rensselaer men, as they faced stiff competition. Senior Greg Mariano placed 10th in the 1,500 meter run with a time of 4:04.22. Sophomore Brian Rautio finished 17th, while freshman TJ Parker was 19th. Rautio also finished with a respectable time of 50.74 seconds in the 400 meter dash, and Parker competed in the 400 meter hurdles, finishing with a time of 56.84.
After the meet, two Engineers headed on to the NCAA nationals held at University of Wisconsin–Oshkosh to represent the RPI women. Dias had finished second in the 400-meter hurdles last year, while Tsai finished fourth in the country. Once again, both came home with All-American status. On May 25, Tsai threw a toss of 52.52 meters to place fifth in the hammer throw good enough to become a three-time National All-American. The next day, Dias earned her fourth National All-American honor with a school-record time of 60.24 seconds and a third-place medal. Dias now holds the school record for 15 events between the indoor and outdoor seasons.
When the Liberty League announced its outdoor track & field awards, there was little surprise to see Dias take home the women’s Track Performer of the Year award for the fourth time, and Tsai named the Field Performer of the Year for the second time.
After the 2007 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District 1 College Division Men’s & Women’s Track & Field/Cross-Country Teams were announced in early June, the three RPI athletes recognized—Dias, Tsai, and classmate Jeremy Burnham—had to wait until the end of the month to find out whether they had been chosen as National Academic All-Americans.
Burnham was the only one of the group to make the cut, as he was named to the Second Team. He finished first in both the hammer and discus at the Liberty League Championships, with throws of 45.54 meters and 40.09 meters, respectively. A captain this past season, he was also on the team that won three straight Liberty League Outdoor Championship Meets and back-to-back New York State Championships.
Burnham became the seventh National All-American from RPI during the 2006-2007 season. Others include seniors Sarah Daniel, Andrea Flynn, and Emily Carrol for the women, and Greg Derevianko, Shawn Hermann, and Matt Merrow for the men.
