By Emily McCarthy, News Staff
Led by sophomore Wesley Gallagher’s top finish in the 3,000-meter run and freshman Kyle Darrow’s first-place mark in the long jump, the Northeastern men’s indoor track team swept the competition Friday at the third annual Joe Donahue Games.
The Husky-hosted Games, held at the Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center, honored the late Northeastern student-athlete and coach who passed away in 2011 and left a lasting impression on the Northeastern track community.
“It’s an important meet that I feel strongly about supporting,” Cathrine Erickson, director of track & field and cross country, said. “We’ve made a commitment every year to support it and try to do something a little bit bigger than ourselves where we actually try to raise money for the Lustgarten Foundation for the study of pancreatic cancer, which is the disease Joe died of.”
In the dual-scored meet, Northeastern defeated the University of New Hampshire, the University of Maine, Brown University, the University of Vermont and Dartmouth College.
Gallagher took the top spot in the 3,000-meter run with a personal best time of 8:15.13. Junior Stephen Sollowin came in third in 8:20.97 and junior Zachary Fraielli finished eighth in 8:33.8
“I actually had a lot of help throughout the race,” Gallagher said in an email to The News. “First teammate Zach Krause paced through the first mile and after that teammate Steve Sollowin lead for a bit until I took over. I only [led] for about a thousand meters. I felt very strong through the race and was very confident.”
The 4×400-meter relay team captured another first-place finish for the Huskies. The squad of sophomore Donovan Henry, freshman David Johnson, freshman Anthony Pavlich and senior Josh Norris combined for a top time of 3.23.01.
Darrow grabbed the top spot in the long jump with a leap of 6.92 meters. Senior Jackson MacDonald came in third place with a jump of 6.85 meters. MacDonald also claimed fourth in the high jump.
Senior Kevin Rosenberg added to Northeastern’s team total with a second-place throw of 15.92 meters in the shot put. He also came in seventh in the weight throw.
Rosenberg said earning second in the shot put was “bittersweet,” as Donahue gave him the extraordinary opportunity to compete for the Huskies.
“I was pleased that I was able to get eight points for the Huskies’ team score at the meet. I was disappointed, though, that I did not win the shot put,” he said in an email to The News. “The meet was a special one for me because its namesake Joe Donahue recruited me to Northeastern and mentored me my freshman year. I wanted to win for him as a token of my appreciation to him for giving me this life altering chance of coming to Northeastern and for his family in attendance.”
The women’s squad also dominated the Joe Donahue Games, finishing first against every school.
Sophomore Jocelyn Hubbard’s second-place finish in the mile run led the way for Northeastern. Her time of 4:51.33 was a new personal best.
“During the race, we went through the first 800 a bit slower than I wanted, and it was a bit tactical,” Hubbard said in an email to The News. “I knew to run low 4:50s I would have to negative split the second half of the race. Recently in practice we have been ending workouts with some speed work, so I was able to use that to my advantage and finish the race strong.”
Junior Victoria Alexander finished second in the 200-meter dash in 25.20 seconds. She also came in third in the 60-meter dash and her time of 7.77 seconds set a new personal best.
In the field, senior Georgia Pingue finished second in the long jump and triple jump and sophomore Alexandra Rose earned a second-place mark in the weight throw.
“I think right now we’re just sort of seeing the cobwebs come off from the holiday,” Erickson said. “I think over the next couple weeks we’re going to see some really neat things. Our team is talented — so it’s fun to see them grow — but very young.”
The Huskies will be back on the track Feb. 7 to kick off the two-day Valentine Invitational hosted by Boston University.
