By Tory Igoe, news staff
This past weekend, Northeastern track and field athletes traveled to Rice University and Bridgewater State to compete in their first outdoor invitationals. Between the Victor Lopez Classic and Bridgewater State Invitational, some astounding achievements were recorded.
Head coach Cathrine Erickson said Husky athletes set 19 personal bests across the meets, as well as qualifying marks for several championship meets later this season.
In Texas, team captain and senior Paul Duffey received first place for his performance in the 800 meter dash. He clocked in with a startling 1 minute, 49.97 second finish. In the same event, sophomore Marc Rienas finished third with a time of 1:50.62. Freshman David Adams proved a standout in his college debut event in the 400 hurdles. Adams blazed through with a fourth place finish and a time of 53.55 seconds.
In the field events, junior Ryan Kim put out a fantastic performance with a throwing distance of 16.67 meters and a second place finish. Coming off the strong finish, sophomore Paige Suse owned the high jump with a height of 1.67 meters and a third place finish.
Returning north to Bridgewater State, NEU athletes made the same impression as they did down south. Northeastern men’s and women’s track took the top five spots in the 10,000 race. Most notably, junior Kerri Ruffo coming in first with a time of 36 minutes, 40.50 seconds. Following Ruffo were sophomore Brooke Wojeski with a time of 37 minutes, 46.20 seconds and freshman Louisa Wize with a time of 38:21.
With this level of achievement, the athletes proved they can maintain athletic prowess as they transition from the indoor season to the outdoor season. Knowing this, Erickson continued to express her pride in the team she built.
“I am extremely proud of how hard the athletes and the coaches have worked,” Erickson said.
Moving forward, the team will be split up among two invitationals once again. This weekend, half of the athletes will travel to Stanford University to compete at the Stanford Invitational.
The other half of the team will travel to Yale University on Saturday to race at the Mark Young Invitational.
Overall, the strong start to the outdoor season sets a precedent for the Huskies to follow in the rest of the outdoor season.
