By Bradley Rosenberg

Last Sunday, at the New York Armory track, Northeastern beat nine other teams to win the Great Dane Classic. While the outcome was in doubt midway through the meet, the Huskies came back in the final two events to garner a score of 118.5 and the win.

“The men like to keep me in suspense,” Coach Sherman Hart said. “But we had a very good meet. We showed we could compete and I think [the meet] was very good.”

The best performance of the meet came from sophomore sprinter Idris Payne, who won both the 200 and 400 meter events. His time of 47.75 seconds in the 400 matched the Northeastern record set by Michael Ferrari during the 1979-1980 season. Other notable performances came from senior Vincent Tortorella, who won the shot put, his fellow shot putter, sophomore Derek Anderson, senior sprinter Bryan McCants, who won the 500, and freshman Tom Pratt, who won the 1,000.

“[Tom Pratt’s win] was a huge performance for us,” said coach Hart. “That was the turning point of the meet [because] we really started to kick it up after that.”

Hart also feels that the pole vaulters did outstanding, and while he “still [thinks the team] has a way to go before they’re as competitive as [he wants] them to be,” he also believes that they had “a very, very good meet.”

The day before the Great Dane Classic, NU had a split-squad compete — and finish 10th among 14 other teams — at the Tufts Invitational.

“Tufts was a developmental meet for us,” says Hart. “It wasn’t about winning or losing; it was about developing. In order to garner championships, you need to develop a team.”

Despite the fact that it was a developmental meet, Hart states that the team “competed very well … [they’re] coming along with the program.”

“I think that we’re heading in the right direction,” Hart says. “We’re starting to get where we need to be to win another American East Championship.”

For now, though, the team looks toward the Husky Invitational on Friday, Jan. 31 at 4:30 p.m.