In what NU coach Sherman Hart deemed “a week off” for the track team, the Huskies sent a partial squad to drizzly Brown University last weekend, and came out finishing ninth out of nine teams.

“We’ve been running the girls pretty hard for a few weeks in a row now,” Hart said. “We’ve sent the team to race against teams like Florida and Duke recently, and when facing that type of competition, you have to get a break at some point.”

Sophomore sprinter and middle distance runner Ahndraea Allen agreed with the need for a break.

“I feel a lot better now, still tired, but not nearly as tired as I was before,” she said. “I’ve got about five weeks left, so I really needed to have a week off to just rest.”

Hart didn’t hold any goals for the 16 competing in Providence, RI, noting he just wanted to keep the team healthy.

Notable performances were turned in by Jenn Currato, Jessica Titus, and Meaghan Shaw. Currato, a junior, placed sixth in the pole vault with a distance of 10-6 1/4 feet, while Titus took seventh in the shot put with a toss of 38-31/4 inches, and Shaw took ninth in the 1500-meters in 4:49.35.

“We basically got what we expected from everyone at the meet,” Hart said.

Brown won the meet with 127 points.

NU has two more tune-ups before the championship season, which begins with the America East meet. First up, the Solomon Invitational will be held this Saturday and Sunday at Solomon Track in Dedham, Mass.

“We’re really going to go after this one,” Hart said. “We are going to open it up a little bit, and have everyone run their events as well as maybe a relay. We’re going to go a little harder than we usually would, and hopefully we’ll get good results and stay healthy.”

In three weeks, the Huskies will begin their quest to repeat as America East Champions, before continuing on to vie for titles in the New England, ECAC, and NCAA Regional meets as well.

“I think we’re a lot healthier than we were last year,” Hart said. “If we can run and stay healthy during the two weeks before the championships, I’ll feel very good about our chances.”