By Dan Canastra

The men’s track team showed that they can compete with some of the best teams on the east coast as they put up a valiant effort last weekend at the IC4A Championship in Princeton, N. J.. With a score of 23, the Huskies finished 15th in the 49-team field.

The weekend was not without its highlights, however, as Northeastern had its first individual IC4A outdoor winner since 1994 in Vinny Tortorella. The senior co-captain took the hammer with a throw of 212’7 in his final appearance at the IC4As.

“[Winning in the hammer] definitely felt good,” said Tortorella. “I went three years of outdoor and four of indoor without winning, and this year was finally my year.”

Sophomore standout Idris Payne also had an exceptional weekend, finishing fifth in the 400-meter race with a time of 47.32 seconds. Payne also ran a leg of the 4×100 that finished fifth with its best time of the season (41.62).

What made Payne’s performance even more remarkable is that he was only able to practice one day before the meet due to a strained hamstring he sustained during the America East Championship.

Steve Langton, Greg Lutz and Lloyd Collins were the other participants that joined Payne in the 4×100. Sophomore thrower Derek Anderson competed in the shot put and discus, finishing 4th and 15th respectively.

“I felt the team performed extremely well for the type of competition they were up against all weekend long,” said NU coach Sherman Hart.

The Huskies have this upcoming weekend off as they prepare for the NCAA East Regional in two weeks. The meet, to held in Fairfax Virginia, will host over 110 teams from Maine to Florida. Hart thinks that the team will be more than ready for the competition.

“Even going into this weekend I felt the team was more concerned about the regional than the IC4A,” Hart said.

Payne concurred.

“The Regional is bigger than IC4A and coach [Hart] is going to have us do less repetitions but at a faster pace in order to get ready,” he said.

Tortorella is looking forward to the meet and the opportunity to have a chance to compete in the NCAA Championship, which is held in June. Anyone who finishes in fifth place or better in the Regional meet will be eligible to compete in the NCAA Championship.

“I’m going keep on staying focused and try to keep my confidence level up like it has the past few weeks,” Tortorella said. “I’ve felt real good in practice the last few weeks, and I just have to keep things under control and keep working hard.”

The Huskies will have five different athletes competing at the Regional in two weeks. Anderson will be throwing the discus and shot while Tortorella will be participating in the hammer. Payne will have two weeks to let his hamstring rest as he is going to compete in the 400-meter race.

Adam Crossman will be heaving the javelin while teammate Ryan Cahill will be competing in the pole vault.

The Huskies will need a strong performance at the Regional in order to leave their mark on the NCAA Championships.