Dec. 3, 2008

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - The Boston University women's indoor track and field team was unanimously chosen to capture its fourth straight America East championship in the annual preseason poll of the league's head coaches, the conference office announced on Wednesday. The men's squad was picked to match its fifth-place finish of a season ago.

On the women's side, the Terriers were picked ahead of New Hampshire, which garnered 56 points and one first-place vote as coaches were not allowed to vote for their own teams. Albany (50) was a close third, while fourth through seventh place were separated by only four points between Maine (34), Binghamton (33), Stony Brook (31) and UMBC (30). Vermont (18) and Hartford (8) rounded out the field. The Terrier women have won nine conference titles since 1990.

Albany was unanimously chosen to win its fourth straight men's conference crown. New Hampshire was the runner-up with 55 points and one first-place vote. Binghamton (51) was third and UMBC (39) edged the Terriers, who garnered 38 points in the voting. Stony Brook (27), Maine (23), Vermont (19) and Hartford (8) were slotted behind BU.

Director of track and field Robyne Johnson has a women's squad that returns junior Whitney Ford, who earned 36 points and the Coaches' Award at last year's conference championship with first-place finishes in the 55-meter dash and long jump coupled with second-place finishes in the 200-meter dash and triple jump, all of which set personal records. Senior Andrea Walkonen will be looking to win her fourth conference title in the 5,000-meter race after earning All-America honors in cross country this fall and sophomore Karly Neveu will be back to defend her high jump crown.

On the men's side, junior Eric Ashe and senior David Proctor lead the distance runners, with Proctor a former conference champ in the 800-meter, 1,000-meter and mile races. Sophomore Joel Senick paces the sprinters, while senior Jan Bicanic will seek to defend his shot put title.

The Terriers open the indoor season on Saturday (Dec. 6), traveling across town to the Reggie Lewis Center for the Husky Winter Carnival. The Harvard Open follows on Dec. 13 before a series of mini meets at the Track and Tennis Center leading up to the annual Terrier Invitational on Jan. 23. BU will compete in the Battle of Beantown on Feb. 7 before hosting the Valentine Invitational on Feb. 13.

The America East Championships will be contested at the Track and Tennis Center on Feb. 20-21, with the New England Championships coming a week later. The men will compete at home for the IC4A Championship, while the women will be at the Lewis Center for the ECAC Championship on March 7-8, all leading up to the NCAA Championships in College Station, Texas, on March 13-14.