By Katie Zigelman, News Staff
Freshman Alex Shapiro and sophomore Katie Barrett both finished in the top three in their separate running events at the Duke Invitational in Durham, N.C. last weekend.
Despite the frequent changes in weather, the team performed well and broke records.
“The first day was 80 degrees and beautiful and the next day it was rainy and 50 degrees,” Shapiro said. “The team did great on Friday and there were still some good performances on Saturday.”
Shapiro ran the 100-meter dash in 11:08 for the win and freshman teammate Eric Jenkins was also victorious in the 1,500-meter run with a time of 3:47.99. Jenkins’ time was the fastest time recorded by a Husky since 1997.
“It wasn’t the time I was looking for, but I’ll take it,” Shapiro said.
Freshman Kaylin Miranda jumped 22 feet, 9.75 inches for a third-place finish in the long jump.
On the women’s side, sophomore Katie Barrett ran the 10,000-meter run in 37:33.30 for a third-place finish and the third-best time in Northeastern history. Senior Kristen Martin, who currently holds the school record, also ran the same event. She finished directly behind Barrett in 37:52.78.
“This meet was kind of tough,” Barrett said. “I had never run this race before. But it was also exciting.”
Barrett is a long-distance runner who normally runs the 5,000-meter run. However, head coach Sherman Hart decided to enter her into the 10,000-meter run to test out the possibility of her running this event in the CAA championship meet May 6.
“It was exactly what we were hoping for,” Hart said. “It was an outstanding performance for her first time.”
Senior Althea Charles won the hammer throw for the third time this season with a toss of 183 feet, 7.93 inches. She also threw the shot put 46 feet, 9.81 inches for a second-place finish and the fifth-best distance in Northeastern history.
Sophomore Jillena DeCarteret finished second in the pole vault with a height of 12 feet, 7.57 inches while junior Saleena Abdur-Rashed ran the 100-meter hurdles in 14.20 in order to come in third place. Senior Heather Crocker finished third in the javelin throw. She threw her best distance ever (141 feet, 4.85 inches) and the second best in Northeastern history.
This weekend the team will compete in its last home meet of the season, the Solomon Invitational at the Solomon Outdoor Track.
Hart said he is hoping the weather will hold up as the majority of the team will be running.
Barrett will be one of the few taking the week off.
“I’m looking forward to watching and cheering for my teammates,” she said. “I’m looking ahead to the conference meet in about a month.”
Hart said he thinks the team is in good shape for the CAA meet.
“We’ve been looking pretty good this year and practicing outside,” Hart said. “Now we’re just working to tune up everything we’ve been doing all spring. Instead of turning it up we will wind it down a little bit now.”
In the meantime, Shapiro said that one of the team goals is to take down George Mason for the conference title.
“We are a young team and if we can get everything together then we can do it,” Shapiro said.
