By: Mike Brown, News Correspondent
It seems fitting that Nia Howard, a graduate of nearby Madison Park High School in Roxbury and former Roxbury Community College student is now winning races for Northeastern.
The junior track and field star won both the long jump and 55-meter dash at the Boston Indoor Games on Friday, helping the Huskies win the meet, which featured 16 other teams. Her efforts have earned her Huntington News Player of the Week honors.
“I surprised myself a lot,” Howard said. “I wasn’t really shocked to win, but those were my best [performances] in those events.”
She especially impressed track and field coach Sherman Hart, who had nothing but praise for Howard.
“Both were really tremendous performances for Nia,” Hart said. “She was definitely in another zone on Friday. You can tell when athletes are in a different zone, and she was.”
Howard’s long jump was measured at 19 feet, six inches, which is the fourth best mark in school history.
“My favorite event has to be the long jump,” Howard said, adding that she has been doing the long jump since elementary school.
Howard’s time in the 55-meter dash was 7.17 seconds, which beat 46 competitors; the closest came within eleven hundredths of a second. But for Howard, beating her personal records is more important than winning races.
“I’m proud of working on competing against myself,” she said. “Until I know when I’ve reached my peak, then the competition comes in.”
After transferring to Northeastern from Roxbury Community College this year, Howard said she hasn’t felt her competition is much tougher in Division I, but she has noticed marked improvement in her personal performance.
“I’ve progressed a lot from this point last year, definitely,” she said.
Earlier this season, Howard won the long jump and finished third in the 60-meter dash at the Dartmouth Relays, and also finished second in the 60-meter dash at the Yale Invitational. She has been a member of Northeastern’s 4×200 and 4×400-meter relay teams.
Howard said she has enjoyed her transition to Northeastern, especially being so close to home. She is currently studying psychology, and said she intends to get her Master’s degree in the subject. Howard said that although she grew up so close to campus, she didn’t expect to end up at Northeastern.
“Originally I wanted to go to a four-year college but it didn’t work out right away,” she said, adding that she wanted to go to a Division I school after community college and decided on Northeastern.
Hart said he has been very pleased with Howard’s effort and performance in her first year at NU.
“She was right nearby, and I had been watching her since she walked in the door at RCC,” he said. “She’s done really, really well [at Northeastern]. She really is a coach’s dream. She does all the intangibles, everything I ask of her.”
