By Jessica Geller, sports editor
Honoring the late Joe Donahue, a Northeastern Hall of Fame student-athlete and coach, the Huskies hosted the Joe Donahue Games at the Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center at Roxbury Community College. The men earned 166 points for first place and the women placed fifth with 68.83 points on Jan. 23.
“This meet [was] an important one because it celebrates the life of the late, great Joe Donahue, a former throwing coach,” sophomore middle distance runner Paul Duffey said in an email to The News. “Carrying on his legacy is important to each individual on the team. The win was for him.”
Participants continued to compete to enter the Intercollegiate Association of Amateur Athletes of America (IC4A) or the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Championships and the New England Championships, held in February and March.
“I am very pleased with how the coaches are preparing the athletes for the events we are trying to get them qualified for in the National Collegiate Athletic Association, New England and IC4A/ECAC Championships,” Director of Track and Field Catherine Erickson said in an email to The News. “Many of the athletes know exactly what is expected of them and their teammates so I am confident in the fact that they will do their job.”
In 12 different events, 19 of the 48 NU men finished fifth place or better.
Duffey earned every accolade he could in the one-mile run as he set a new meet record and personal best of 4:07.68. He was almost four seconds faster than his teammate, graduate student distance runner John Schilkowsky who finished in 4:11.50. Both men also qualified for the IC4A and New England. Freshman distance runner Ben Trapani ran a personal best 4:18.26 for eleventh place.
“The mile was a fun race to be a part of because I got to run with six of my teammates, so we were able to push each other to go faster,” Duffey said. “I’m happy I was able to set a new [personal record], but I think there is still room for improvement.”
Junior sprinter Donovan Henry and sophomore sprinter Kyle Darrow created a Husky one-two punch in the 200-meter dash. Henry’s 22.13 qualified him for the IC4A and New England, and Darrow’s 22.37 qualified him for New England.
Darrow had a first-place finish in the long jump, landing 7.23 meters into the sand. He qualified for the IC4A and New England.
In the 4×400-meter relay, the Huskies team of freshman hurdler Peter Katsarakes, sophomore sprinter Anthony Pavlich, junior sprinter Eric Benny and graduate student sprinter Damani Wilson placed first with a time of 3:22.04. University of New Hampshire (UNH) came in second at 3:23.76.
For the women’s track and field team, sophomore distance runner Kate Johnstone fared the best. She finished first in the 1000-meter run, completing the distance in an ECAC and New England qualifying time of 2:52.95.
There was close competition in the one-mile run. University of Massachusetts (UMass) Amherst’s senior distance runner Rachel Hillard finished first in 4:58.99, followed by College of Holy Cross’ sophomore middle distance runner Caroline Carley at 4:59.27. NU’s freshman distance runner Jordan O’Dea and sophomore distance runner Kerri Ruffo finished third and fourth with times of 4:59.90 and 5:02.17, respectively. Both women also qualified for New England.
Junior weight thrower Allie Rose continued her 2015 improvement streak by setting two personal records. She threw for a personal best 12.02 meters in the shot put and followed that with another personal best 15.95 meters in the weight throw for third place.
“Throwing a personal best is great, to do it twice in one day is even better and to do it in an environment where many of my teammates were also setting personal best just means the hard work we are putting in as a team is paying off,” Rose said in an email to The News.
For Rose and her throwing teammates, the Donahue Games are even more meaningful. She said that many team members introduced themselves to the Donahue family, which was sitting in the bleachers by the throwing events supporting the team.
On the men’s side, eight schools competed and finished in the following order: NU, Brown University, University of Vermont, UNH, Maine University, UMass Amherst, Holy Cross and Hartford University.
The women’s final team results, in order, were: Holy Cross, University of Central Florida, Brown, UMass Amherst, NU, UNH, Vermont, Maine and Hartford.
The NU men and women head to Boston University (BU) for the John Thomas Terrier Invite, a two-day meet starting on Friday. Even though the season opener was held at BU, Duffey and Rose see this event as quite different.
“As a team, we all recognize that the weeks are flying by and we will soon be back at BU where the women’s team will defend our New England Championship from last year, and we are all trying to set that tone next weekend,” Rose said. “I think the season opener at BU set the groundwork and gave us all an idea of where we were starting. Now, going into this next meet at BU, we are looking to push ourselves and see the payouts of the hard work we have been putting in since the opener.”
Photo by Jessica Geller
