By: Katie Zigelman, News Staff
Senior Andrew Staples made Northeastern history by leaping 23 feet, 7.5 inches in the long jump to become the first Husky to win the long jump event at the Intercollegiate Association of Amateur Athletes of America (IC4A) Championship.
His teammate, freshman Kaylin Miranda, finished 18th in the same event with a distance of 22 feet, 0.25 inches. The men’s team earned 10 points from this event, which contributed to their 24th place finish out of 52 teams.
“I was pretty happy with my performance,” Staples said. “It was not the best jump that I was looking for but it was the best jump that day and that is all that matters. I got the title.”
Senior Jonathon Hall came in seventh in the 500-meter dash with a time of 1:03.85 while senior Patrick Jablonski threw the shot put 48 feet, 5.25 inches for a 26th place finish.
Senior Alex Iannetta and freshman James Hall both competed in the weight throw, finishing tenth and 19th, respectively. Iannetta threw the weight 57 feet, 0.25 inches to achieve his personal best and Hall threw it 53 feet, 1 inch.
For the women’s team, senior Althea Charles placed second in the 20-pound weight throw at the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) meet. She tied for her second best mark of the season, 60 feet, 3 inches. Sophomore Julia Westover placed 11th in the same event with a mark of 53 feet, 9 inches.
“Althea [Charles] ran very, very well,” head coach Sherman Hart said. “She didn’t make nationals but she made it on the national list which is the top 40 in the country. She has come a long way in her performance.”
Sophomore Jillena DeCarteret matched her second-best height in the pole vault of 12 feet, 5.5 inches for a fourth-place finish. Senior Seri Gordon was the final competitor for the women’s team. She finished 13th in the preliminaries of the 1,000-meter run.
The women’s team finished 23rd out of 50 teams.
All 10 athletes who competed this weekend also squared off the previous weekend at the New England Championship meet.
“We actually had a number of athletes who qualified who did not compete [in the meet],” Hart said. “We let mostly seniors and upperclassmen go and kept out many underclassmen. We’re not looking for burn out and we leave [Thursday] for the next meet.”
Charles said that it’s difficult to compete in two championships only a week apart, but she enjoys being able to feed off the momentum from the week prior.
Both teams are traveling to Wilmington, N.C., this weekend to compete in their first outdoor meet of the season, the Seahawk Invitational.
“The weather will be much nicer and warmer than in Boston,” Charles said.
Staples said he is excited to get outside, especially since the team has not had a chance to practice outside at all with the current weather in Boston.
“I am hoping to make it to nationals in June and this will hopefully put me on my way,” Staples said.
Hart is looking forward to seeing how some of the outdoor events that are not included in the indoor season will do.
“I want to get off to a fast start to the outdoor season,” Hart said. “The underclassmen have been training hard, a lot of them skipped out on going home over spring break to stay here and work out.”
