By James Eddy II
The Huskies had a number of top-three finishes at the Bernard Solomon Invitational held at Solomon track in Dedham Saturday. The explosion of quality results comes one week before the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) conference championships.
The Husky men put together a solid performance and had their best results of the outdoor season. They won six events and were led on the track by freshman John Griffin.
Griffin won the 100-meter ahead of fellow freshman teammate Stephen James, who finished third. Junior teammate Cord Parks finished first in the 110-meter hurdles. The Huskies showed their unity by taking home first in the 4×100-meter relay.
Not to be outdone by their track teammates, the Huskies won three of their six events in the field. They were led by senior Ed Reardon who won the discus. Freshman Pablo Rodriguez edged fellow freshman teammate Brian Daly to take home the pole vault. This is Rodriguez’s second time beating Daly in the pole vault this season. The Huskies also swept the long jump, with sophomore Adrian Li taking first, freshman Brian Racca finishing second and freshman Andrew Staples anchoring the sweep.
The men’s squad had many top three finishes. Senior Jonathan Watkins finished second in the 400-meter, while teammates freshman Patrick Jablonski and junior Ron Conway finished second in the shot put and the javelin. The men finished second in the 4×400-meter relay.
The Husky women were not outdone by their male teammates; they won one more event than the men. The Huskies won a total of seven events, and were led by sophomore Consandria Walker, who took home first in the 100-meter and triple jump. Junior Katherine Sherman also took home first in two events. Not to be outdone by her teammate, Sherman took first in both the 100-meter hurdles and the high jump.
In the field events senior Patricia Harrison led the way by taking first in the shotput. Harrison was emulated by junior teammates Nancy Rowe, who took home first in the javelin, and Olivia Kalinowska who finished first in the pole vault. Kalinowska was followed by sophomore teammate Kristen Hafford who took second, and freshman Ashley Furlong who took home third.
The women’s squad had a number of top-three finishes. Sophomore Lauren Roscus had similar results to teammates Sherman and Walker by placing second in two events. Roscus finished second in the long and triple jump. Junior Kristen Ripple finished second in the high jump, followed by sophomore teammate Andrea Govatsos who finished third completing a Northeastern sweep of the high jump. Freshman Althea Charles finished third in the discus and the hammer throw, while taking second in the shotput. Harrison followed her shot put win by finishing second in the discus.
Head coach Sherman Hart said he believes the performance made him more confident in his team, but he doesn’t feel confident enough to say how well the team will perform at the conference championships.
“I feel good about their performance,” he said. “Especially because this event was for those people who didn’t have too much time to compete to finally compete before conference. They impressed me a lot with how well they performed.”
Senior captain Tramaine Shaw echoed the same sentiments as her coach, except Shaw said she feels the team is ready for the conference championship.
“This meet was for the people who weren’t able to travel with us, and haven’t been able to compete,” she said. “After this meet I feel we are a lot deeper this year compared to last year, and we should have a lot more people finish with more top eight finishes at conference.”
The Huskies will look to push themselves to another level as they will continue preparing for the CAA conference championships held in Williamsburg, Va. April 18 through April 19.