By: Katie Zigelman, News Staff

Freshman Eric Jenkins and senior Seri Gordon led their teams to success in Boston University’s Valentine Invitational last Friday. Because it was an invitational, only eight men and ten women were asked to participate and there were no team scores.

Jenkins finished the mile 11th out of 197 runners with a time of 4:06.65, breaking his personal record and posting Northeastern’s seventh fastest mile ever during the indoor season.

“Eric did great with the mile,” assistant coach Kenny Waldron said. “This was the first time that 4:10 has been broken at Northeastern for a while.”

Waldron was also impressed by junior Evan Whetsell, who finished in ninth place in the 800-meter run. Whetsell’s time of 1:52.31 placed him ahead of 173 competitors including sophomore Luke Malley, who finished in 1:58.78.

Sophomore Nick Ryan ran the 3,000-meter run in 8:29.82, while senior Jonathon Hall finished seventh in the 500-meter dash with a time of 1:04.54. Freshmen Andrew Snyder and Alex Shapiro wrapped up the day for the men’s team, as Snyder completed the 1,000-meter run in 2:31.35 and Shapiro ran the 400-meter in 50.82.

Gordon finished the 800-meter run 17th out of 138 runners with a time of 2:14.20. Sophomore Laura Coyne and senior Courtney Mortimer also ran the event in 2:19.26 and 2:19.54, respectively.
Gordon has been experimenting with different events throughout her final indoor season. She said she tried out the mile and other distance events, but was glad to be back running in the 800-meter event.

“I’m back to what I know,” she said.

Sophomore Nikki Cunha and freshman Camille Henry both competed in the 400-meter dash. Cunha finished in 58.72 and Henry in 1:00.65. Junior Saleena Abdur-Rashed’s time of 7.92 in the 60-meter dash was one-hundredth of a second away from qualifying for the finals.
Seniors Jess Barton and Kristen Martin both ran the 5,000-meter run finishing 27th and 39th out of 59 total runners. Barton had a time of 17:43.26, while Martin completed the event in 18:02.65.

Sophomore Katie Barrett ran the mile in 5:17.19, and junior Sarah Trotman came in 27th out of 130 in the 200-meter run with a time of 25.99.

“We were coming off of two weeks of high competition meets, the Battle of Beantown and before that the Boston Indoor Games,” Waldron said. “It’s hard to run three times in a row.”
Gordon said the Valentine Invitational was a competitive meet.

“Everybody that did run was running really well,” Gordon said. “It’s good to compete against the best.”

Both teams have a couple of weeks off from meets before the New England Championship Feb. 25 and 26. During this time, the teams will be working to maintain the work they have put in all season.

“At this point, the work is kind of done for this season,” Waldron said. “The goal now is to go into [the championship] as healthy and rested as possible.”
Gordon said she has complete confidence in her team despite the numerous injuries and sicknesses it has dealt with this season.

“We are a really good team and I know that we can compete,” she said.