By Tory Igoe, news staff
A season of hard work paid off for Northeastern University’s men’s and women’s track and field teams as they took first place this past weekend with a cumulative score of 151. This put them ahead of runner-up University of Rhode Island by nearly 100 points.
The meet began with preliminary rounds held Friday followed by finals Saturday. At finals, 11 athletes advanced and sent shock waves throughout the competition.
In the pursuit of the team’s astounding win, three school records were broken. Junior Nick Fofana raised the bar to a whopping 5,217 in the men’s heptathlon, eclipsing the previous score set by Stefano Combi in 2011-12 with a score of 5,201. Freshman Naukym Morton nailed his 60-meter sprint with a time of 6.72 seconds, setting a new meet record. Sophomore Katie Hanlon edged out senior Camille Gooden’s original record in the 500 sprint with a time of 1 minute, 13.68 seconds.
Fofana took first in the 60 hurdles with a time of 8.38 seconds. He also finished first in the pole vault with a clearing of 4.20 meters. Juniors Ryan Kim and Eric Mellusi took the top two spots in shot put, setting distances of 16.40 meters and 16.02 meters respectively. First timer Austin Lin clocked in a time of 1:5.91 for the men’s 500. Lastly, senior and captain Paul Duffey shaved two seconds off his 800 time for a second place finish with a time of 1:49.05.
The women’s team also had several top finishes. In the high jump, sophomores Paige Suse and Danae Bucci received first and second place with jumps of 1.74 and 1.70 meters. Freshman Leeyan Redwood and junior Zoe Taitel finished second and third in the shot put with distances of 13.80 meters and 13.67 meters. Adding to the success, junior Jessica Scott and sophomore Sydney Fisher earned second and third in the 60; their times were 7.62 seconds and 7.76 seconds respectively.
To top off the day, the women’s 800 relay with sophomores Sarah Adler, Corrine Myers, Edlyn Gulama and freshman Amanda Hickey clocked in at 9:20.85, landing them a third place finish.
With this spectacular showing, the Huskies move onto Eastern College Athletic Conference/Intercollegiate Association of Amateur Athletes of America Championships at Boston University this upcoming weekend. Cumulatively, the men’s and women’s team have 151 qualifying performances. This makes the Huskies strong competitors moving into outdoor season this month.
Photo courtesy Jim Pierce, Northeastern Athletics
