By Katie Zigelman, News Staff
Junior Ida Cance and senior Jonathon Hall contributed first-place finishes at the Seahawk Invitational in North Carolina this past weekend.
The men’s team finished second out of 11 teams with 107 points, with the University of North Carolina-Wilmington winning the meet with 222 points. The women’s team came in third with 133 points behind Elon Univeristy (165 points) and UNCW (159 points).
“We didn’t bring a lot of guys to the meet so we weren’t expecting to win,” Hall said. “But we had some good performances and were generally happy with the meet.”
Hall’s victory at this meet came in the 400-meter hurdles event, which he completed in his career best time, 53.55. The time also qualified him for the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference (ECAC) championship meet.
“The 400-meter hurdles is my [favorite] event,” Hall said. “I was satisfied with my performance.”
Hall was not the only one to win an event at this meet: Freshman Eric Jenkins won the 800-meter run in 1:53.55, and the men’s 4×400-meter relay team consisting of freshmen Sean Collins and Alex Shapiro, sophomore Anthony Gentles and junior Myles Mason also came in first with a time of 3:21.38.
Junior Evan Whetsell finished second in the 1,500-meter run in 3:51.17, while freshman Darius Velez finished second in the 100-meter dash with a time of 10.75. He tied for the fourth best time in Northeastern history.
Senior Andrew Staples also had a second-place finish in the long jump, jumping 22 feet, 11.98 inches, with freshman Kaylin Miranda following close behind Staples with a 3rd place jump of 22 feet, 10.4 inches. Freshman Kemardo Tyrell also competed in this event, finishing fifth with a distance of 21 feet, 11.38 inches. This long-jump team has been ranked in the top-five finishers since the beginning of indoor season.
“We recruited that way,” head coach Sherman Hart said. “The coaches tried to focus on the events that are different and pick people who can do really well in them.”
Jumping and throwing events are included in these “different” events.
The women’s team had three first-place and two second-place performances in throwing and jumping events alone. Cance jumped 5 feet, 2 inches to win the high jump while sophomore Jillena DeCarteret won the pole vaulting event with a height of 12 feet, 10 inches. DeCarteret’s height was the second best in Northeastern outdoor track history and qualified her for the ECAC championship meet.
Senior Althea Charles had both a first-place finish in the hammer throw (184 feet, 2.62 feet) and a second-place finish in the shot put (41 feet, 6.5 inches). Her hammer throw results were the second best in Northeastern outdoor track history.
Senior Heather Crocker was the final second-place finisher in the throwing events, throwing the javelin 133 feet, 6 inches for the title.
“These [throwing] events are some of our strongest events,” Hart said. “They know they need to be strong. I’m expecting them to really do well at the end of the season.”
Senior Jessica Barton won the 1,500-meter run with a time of 4:35.43 and sophomore Katie Barrett came in second in the 5,000-meter run in 17:48.82. Junior Saleena Abdur-Rashed also placed second in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 14.35.
She won this event at the Seahawk Invitational last year and was only one second off of qualifying for the ECAC championship meet this past weekend.
The women’s team finished second in both the 4×100 meter relay and the 4×400 meter relay. Due to the unpredictable Massachusetts weather, Hart was worried about the team’s hand-offs as they were unable to get much outdoor practice.
However, he was pleasantly surprised with the team’s finishes.
“They did much better than I thought,” Hart said.
The team had a chance to practice the day before competition as they arrived early; however, the rain arrived with them.
“It hadn’t rained for days before we got there, but as soon as we stepped outside, it starts raining,” he added.
In the 4×100-meter relay, Abdur-Rashed and freshmen Ashlee Pitts, Camille Henry and Sepanta Podrah-Vajdy, finished in 47.69, qualifying them for the ECAC championship meet. The 4×400-meter relay team consisted of sophomores Nikki Cunha and Laura Coyne, freshman Rachel Moburg and senior Courtney Mortimer, who completed the event in 4:09.69.
Both teams are competing again Saturday, March 19, at the Husky Spring Open here at the Solomon Outdoor Track.
“There are a lot of people not competing because they need some time off, but there are still a lot of people trying to do well,” Hall said. “It’s good to get these smaller team meets in before the big ones.”
