By Jeff Powalisz
The coast seemed clear for the Northeastern men’s track team.
Not only would their victory give them the America East Championship, but it would end all questions of who was dominant in the ongoing Northeastern-Albany rivalry.
The Huskies held a 116.5-91.5 lead over Albany with four events remaining (triple jump, high jump, 4×400 and 4×800 relays), but the Great Danes ended the meet with a huge stride, taking an exceptional 49 points in those events and winning the America East over the Huskies 140.5-116.5, Friday and Saturday at Boston University.
The University of Maryland-Baltimore County (117.50), BU (95) and the University of New Hampshire (95) rounded out the top five.
“The bottom line is that no one else was stepping up to the plate,” said Northeastern coach Sherman Hart of the competition at the event. “It was essentially a three-team match up [Albany, Northeastern, UMBC] and we weren’t getting help from anyone else.”
As tough as the loss was to take, junior sprinter Idris Payne continued to add his name to the record books.
A week after setting the Husky record twice in the 400 at the New Balance Armory Collegiate Invitational, he won the 200 with an America East and Husky record time of 21.45, and then the 400 with a meet record time of 47.21. He then anchored the third-place 4×400 team’s time of 3:17.34.
Co-captain and fellow New Balance meet participant Derek Anderson added key points to the team’s score with a victory/America East record in the shot put (56’01.75) and a second-place finish in the weight throw (56’06.5). His weight throw was narrowly edged by Binghamton’s Andrew Cloud, who, in his first try, threw a distance of 56’06.75.
Junior Peter Jasmin, consistent in the 55-meter hurdles all year, came up big when it counted with a 7.66 championship time. One of the key events for the Huskies, he defeated three Albany runners, Paul Roche (7.67), Kamar Elliot (7.75), and Anthony Robibero (7.78), who placed respectively behind Jasmin.
“Generally, the team competed extremely well,” Hart said. “Idris, Peter and Derek all had great days but we ended up just a little short.”
Freshman Obaro Emenike continued his strong sprint work with a second-place finish in the 55-meter dash (6.44). UMBC’s Adam Grossman was the event champion at 6.40, but the Huskies proved their depth with Bismark Osei (5th, 6.57) and Steve Langton (6th, 6.58) placing as well.
Emenike gained points for the team in the 200 as well, where his sixth place time of 22.51 added three to the team’s score. Carlos Garcia added another in the 400, with an eighth-place time of 50.03.
“Most of our guys ran personal bests,” Hart said. “Conrad Dalton, sophomore Tom Pratt, and Obaro Emenike, who was another guy who ran very well.”
In the 500, BU gained a key 10 points from Andre Nacaxe (1:03.20), but NU’s Conrad Dalton (3rd, 1:05.22) and Roscell Lopez-Pitts (5th, 1:05.44) equaled BU’s total and continued NU’s strong flow of points.
Northeastern placed fifth in the 4×800 with a time of 7:49.93, and again Albany had the upper hand with a first-place time of 7:39.67, gaining 10 points in their final run to the victory.
In the field events, Dalton gave the Huskies points in the high jump (7th, 6-06), while Michael Couch (2nd, 15-03), and Aaron Hill (tied/3rd, 15-03) were a strong combination in the pole vault yet again. Naron Stewart of Albany placed third in the high jump, as his final finish of 6-08.75 was third and added seven to Albany’s important 49.
Langton placed fifth in the long jump, as his best leap of 21-09.00 was behind Albany’s Roche, who defeated all comers with a finish of 23-02.50. Couch and Hill returned again in the Heptathlon, where Hill (6th, 4314) and Couch (8th, 4053) added four points in the event.
