By P.J. Wright, news staff
With the New England Championships looming, the Northeastern University (NU) men’s and women’s track and field programs kept their focus on Friday and Saturday at the Boston University (BU) David Hermery Valentine Invite.
The women were clicking on Friday afternoon, stringing together 11 personal bests to go with 14 top-20s, and the men grabbed 15 top-20 spots on Saturday.
On Friday, NU’s only pole vault participant, senior Jacilyn Briggs, was one of the team’s three top-5 finishers with her second-place mark of 3.90 meters.
Junior Betsy Garnick, who earned fourth place in the 60-meter dash (8.65 seconds), and sophomore Audrey Weyand, who finished fifth in the 500-meter dash (1:14.59), were the other top-5 places on the squad. Garnick also nabbed eighth place in the long jump with a distance of 5.60 meters.
The men kept the momentum rolling for the Red and Black with a top-20 finisher on Saturday afternoon and 17 more indoor personal bests.
Junior Kyle Darrow set the pace for the Huskies with his second-place long jump of 7.55 meters. Darrow ranks ninth all-time at Northeastern in the event and 23rd nationally, according to the most recent rankings on Feb. 15.
Sophomore Ryan Kim had himself another solid performance in the shot put, placing third with a distance of 16.16 meters.
Jordan Samuels rounded out the top-10 performers for the Huskies with his 14.54-meter mark in the triple jump (third place) and his 8.14-second finish in the 60-meter hurdles (eighth).
“As we’re approaching the post season, everyone is really focusing and taking practice and workouts a lot more seriously,” Samuels said. “Every week is a chance to get better and we’ve been proving that. In practice it’s all about competing with yourself and your teammates, so it’s nice to see everyone pushing each other on the track.”
Both of the Northeastern track and field squads will trek over to Harvard’s Gordon Indoor Track for the US Track and Field New England Championships on Sunday, Feb. 21.
Photo courtesy Jim Pierce, Northeastern Athletics.
