By Jeff Powalisz
At the annual showcase of track excellence, the IC4A Championships last weekend at Boston University, it’s difficult for most to stand out in such a wide-open, star-studded field.
However, Northeastern Huskies’ Derek Anderson, Idris Payne and Tom Pratt did just that in placing high atop the standings in their respective events and giving 15 points for the 19th-ranked Northeastern team.
Manhattan College won the event with 60 points, while UConn (55), Seton Hall (47), Penn State (42) and Army (34) rounded out the top five teams in the 53-team event.
Anderson threw for 56-11.25 feet in the finals of the shot put, good for third place overall. Josh Russell of Wagner (58-07.5) and Uzoma Orji of MIT (57-07) were first and second, respectively.
“Derek is a picture of consistency,” said Northeastern coach Sherman Hart. “I’m very pleased at placing 19th at the competition. I think with the guys coming in it was about qualifying, and with over 90 schools in the IC4A, it says a lot for us being in 19th place.”
Payne, coming off of record-setting weeks in the 400, continued his strong work in the event with a fourth-place finish of 47.12 in the finals.
Obra Hogans (45.83) and Quentin Bowens (46.40), both of Seton Hall, and Eric Porter of Navy (46.72) composed the three ahead of Payne.
Pratt came up strong in the 1000 with a fifth-place time of 2:26.61 behind Joel Legare (UConn, 2:22.58), Tyler Raymond (Manhattan, 2:24.14), Mike LoSapio (LaSalle, 2:24.34) and Eric Heely (Army, 2:24.39).
“I think we competed well overall,” Hart said. “Tom had a great two days and I think he was going in that direction after good work at the New Englands and the America East championships.”
Over the weekend of Feb. 27 and 28, the Huskies competed in the New England Championships at BU. Backed by another strong day from Anderson, Northeastern gained 38 points for seventh place.
UConn won the first-place trophy by an overwhelming margin with 162 points, ahead of second-place finisher Rhode Island (86), BU (68), Providence (51) and UMass-Lowell (48).
Anderson placed third in the shot put with a throw of 55-04.25, and then fifth in the weight throw at 56-06.5. MIT’s Orji was the meet champion in both events with a throw of 57-03.5 in the shot put and 58-05.75 in the weight.
Steve Langton also did well in multiple events, as he placed third in the long jump (22-10.5) and sixth in the 55-meter dash (6.53). Obaro Emenike placed third in the dash (6.48) and Bismark Osei seventh (6.53) to add points to the team’s score.
Peter Jasmin had strong performance in the 55-meter hurdles with a fifth-place finish of 7.74, while Conrad Dalton grabbed two points in the 400 with a seventh-place time of 48.97. Roscell Lopez-Pitts added another in an eighth-place leap in the long jump (21-10.25).
The team’s 4×400 team placed sixth on the day at 7:46.51. BU was the champion in the event (7:41.69).
“The New Englands were really about running to qualify for the IC4As,” Hart said. “We competed well and accomplished what we had to do.”
