By: Katie Zigelman, News Staff
Senior Jessica Barton and freshman Brian Doyle both won the 3,000-meter run in the New England Indoor Championship meet at BU Feb. 26, leading their teams to success. The women placed second out of 34, while the men finished fifth out of 34.
Barton, who is the first Husky to ever win this indoor event, finished with a time of 9:44.00 followed by teammates sophomore Katie Barrett and freshman Danielle Klein, who came in sixth and tenth, respectively. Barrett completed the event in 10:12.57 and Klein in 10:23.53. Barton’s time was the second fastest run in Northeastern indoor history, it was her personal best and it qualified her for the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) championship.
“Winning the 3,000 felt really good,” Barton said. “It was my goal going into it so I really opened up at the lead and started fast.”
Barton was out for most of the season, but made an effort to be able to run in the last indoor meet.
“Barton wanted to go out in style and she did,” head coach Sherman Hart said.
Barton was not the only one to find success at this meet. With 58 points, the women’s team collectively came in second place out of 33 teams, with the University of Connecticut earning first with 186 points. This was the Northeastern women’s sixth consecutive second place at the New England Championships.
Sophomore Jillena DeCarteret and senior Althea Charles earned the women’s team’s only second place finishes, DeCarteret in the pole vault and Charles in the weight throw. DeCarteret finished with a career-best height of 12 feet, 6.39 inches. Charles threw the weight 58 feet, 9.9 inches and also came in fourth place in the shot put with a distance of 42 feet, 10.96 inches.
Junior Saleena Abdur-Rashed also placed in the 60-meter hurdles. Her third place finish time of 8.61 matched her season best, while senior Seri Gordon was able to drop five seconds off of her time in the 1,000 meter run for a fourth place finish. Her final time was 2:52.48.
Barton talked about the meet being an “overall good performance” for the team where many athletes beat their personal records.
“It was a good end to the [indoor] season,” she said.
The Northeastern’s men’s team ended the meet fifth out of 35 teams with 52 points.
Doyle had the single first-place finish in the 3,000-meter with a time of 8:27.33, followed by a second-place finish from junior Nick Ryan with a time of 8:30.84.
“Doyle doesn’t know how good he is, he just keeps running,” Hart said.
Senior Jonathon Hall pulled off a second-place finish in the 500-meter dash with his best time of the season, 1:03.07.
Junior Evan Whetsell also beat his season best time in the 800-meter run comma finishing fifth with a time of 1:50.64.
Northeastern’s men’s team has consistently dominated the long jump and this meet was no exception. Senior Andrew Staples jumped 23 feet, 1.55 inches for a second place finish, followed closely by freshman Kaylin Miranda who came in third with a jump of 22 feet, 11.98 inches. Freshman Jackson MacDonald also competed in this event and ended up sixth with a distance of 22 feet, 1.35 inches.
The 4×800 meter relay came in fourth with a time of 7:41.22. Hall and Whetsell ran this along with freshmen Andrew Snyder and Eric Jenkins.
“Both teams did very well at this meet,” Hart said. “They were able to step up to the plate at the championship and I think most every track athlete who competed in the running events beat their personal record. They performed well and I was very pleased.”
As this meet marked the end of the indoor season, Hart said the season as a whole went very well, especially considering the team is more than 60 percent freshmen.
The men were undefeated until the New England Championships and the women suffered from the flu and being hurt a lot but bounced back at the end.
The teams are now making the transition into the outdoor season.
“We are looking forward to outdoor better than indoor season. The events are more suited to our team and hopefully the weather will cooperate,” Hart said. “We will practice outside as much as possible but we need the snow to melt to be successful. Right now, snow is our biggest enemy. The teams in the south are at an advantage.”
