PROVIDENCE, R.I. - The University of Southern Maine will host the 11th annual Little East Conference/New England Alliance Men's and Women's Indoor Track and Field Championships this weekend at the Costello Sports Complex field house in Gorham, Maine. The region's top student-athletes are scheduled to begin competition at 12 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 16.

The Little East Conference/New England Alliance Championship meet began in 1998, when UMass Boston hosted the event at the Reggie Lewis Center in Boston, Mass. The championship meet is comprised of 10 teams from the Little East Conference and the Massachusetts State College Athletic Conference.

The Southern Maine women's indoor track and field team has dominated the conference championships, winning the past seven crowns. Last season, the Huskies sported eight individual champions en route to earning 191 team points to hoist the conference trophy. Southern Maine is riding the momentum of capturing its third Maine State Championship in the past four years last weekend at the Costello Sports Complex. Senior Hattie Landry (Action, Maine) won three individual events, while junior Emily Poliquin (Lisbon Falls, Maine) won the long jump competition. Both student-athletes were recognized by the conference office this past week for their accomplishments for the week ending Feb. 10.

For the past eight years, the men's team competition has been decided by two teams-Eastern Connecticut State University and Southern Maine. The Warriors are the two-time defending champions, while the Huskies boast five overall championship titles. Eastern Connecticut tuned up for the Little East Conference Championships by setting 14 personal records at the non-team scoring Wesleyan Cardinal Invitational this past weekend, while Southern Maine won the Maine State Championships.           

For a complete schedule of events for the 2008 Little East Conference/New England Alliance Championships, please log on to the Little East Conference Web site.