The SUNY Oneonta track & field program will be sending five men to compete this weekend at the NCAA Division III outdoor championships hosted by the University of Wisconsin La Crosse. Action begins on Thursday and will conclude on Saturday afternoon.
Representing Oneonta is senior
Sean Bernstein (Baldwinsville/C.W. Baker), sophomore
Patrick Weinert (Schenevus/Schenevus) and freshmen
Jake Alviene (East Greenbush/Columbia),
Joe Carr (Burnt Hills/Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake) and
Thomas Wheeler (Rocky Point/Rocky Point). Weinert and the three rookies will be making their first outdoor appearance while Alviene will be making his second NCAA appearance after qualifying in the 60m hurdles during indoor season. Weinert will be the men's first thrower to qualify for nationals in the history of the program.
Bernstein will be wrapping up one of the greatest, if not greatest, track & field careers this week when he competes in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay events. He is the defending national champion in the 200m and was runner up last spring in the 100m. Bernstein has the second fastest times this spring in both events entering nationals.
This past Thursday and Friday, Bernstein won the 100m as an individual and the 4x100m relay as the second leg, as the Red Dragons finished second at the ECAC Division III championships at Springfield College. On Friday, he was selected as the NCAA Division III Atlantic Region Male Track Athlete of the Year for a third time during his career.
Besides running a leg on the 4x100m relay, both Carr and Alviene have qualified in individual events for this weekend. Carr is seeded eighth in the 200m dash and Alviene is seeded sixth in the 110m high hurdles. Alviene qualified this past weekend after setting a school record of 14.48 during the preliminaries.
Weinert has had a tremendous outdoor season for Oneonta. He threw himself into the national scene two weeks ago at the Oneonta May Meet with his school record throw of 57.89m (189' 11”). That throw moved him from 25th on the list all the way up to his current spot of 11th entering the championships.
You can follow the entire championships live at the following link:
http://www.ustfccca.org/weekly-results/national-championships-central-outdoor-track-field#d3
