Fitchburg State Doubles Up At Boston University Terrier Invite And Tufts Stampede
Harrison leads women with an ECAC qualifying performance in the 800m; Ouellette paces men with an ECAC qualifying time in the 5,000m
Boston, Mass. – The Fitchburg State men's and women's indoor track teams travelled to the 2015 Terrier Invite hosted by Boston University to take on some of the best competition the nation has to offer. The meet was spread out over two days and displayed the talents of several thousand competitors, while other members of the Falcon's indoor track teams competed at the 2015 Tufts Stampede on Saturday.
Senior captain Jenae Harrison finally got the breakout performance in the 800m she had been working for. Early in the meet on Friday, the determined veteran middle distance runner went to work. The race was set up perfectly for a sub 2:20 800m, but it was up to Harrison to follow through. With as much toughness as she could gather, Harrison stayed with the leaders though 400m, got herself into striking position on the third lap, and then made a final pass on the turn immediately after the start of the final lap to slingshot her into the lead. From there, there was no turning back and the resolute senior turned on the jets to win her heat with an indoor personal record and ECAC qualifying time of 2:18.94.
The freshman duo of Nicole Gaffney and Jenna Phelps raced extremely well at the Terrier Invite. Gaffney ran to a season best time in the mile, registering a MASCAC qualifying time of 4:30.09. Phelps tried her luck in the 500m and ran an outstanding time of 1:21.36. Her performance qualified her for the MASCAC Championships and left her just tenths of a second away from the DIII New England and ECAC Championships. The women's team comprised of Harrison, Gaffney, Phelps, and senior Braila Roy also competed in the DMR, running a time of 13:14.95.
At the 2015 Tufts Stampede, senior Arthina Robert ran a MASCAC qualifying time of 8.15 seconds in the 60m dash to place sixth overall. Freshman Annie Woolley ran very strong in the 60m hurdles with a third place showing and MASCAC and DIII New England qualifying mark of 9.74 seconds. Pole vaulters Rebecca McClure and Sadie Zbikowski had performances of 3.05m and 2.75m respectively. Both qualified for MASCAC's and McClure hit the DIII New England standard as well. McClure followed up her performance with a 28.84 in the 200m and Zbikowski came back with a great 400m in 1:05.13. Rounding out the Falcon's top performers was sophomore Kelly McCarthy who ran a MASCAC qualifying and personal best time of 11:59.52 in the 3,000m.
Senior Eric Ouellette literally waited all day to compete at the 2015 Terrier Inivite. He didn't toe the line until 7:15 PM, but proved to everyone that his performance was well worth the wait. Racing the 5,000m for only the second time in his life, the strong-minded distance runner ran a huge personal record of 15:01.42 in a heat dominated by NCAA DI runners. His time bested his old personal best by almost 30 seconds, which is an improvement of over a second per lap. With this phenomenal time, Ouellette successfully qualified for everything but DIII Nationals. This means his season will be extended by at least four weeks with a MASCAC, DIII New England, NEICAAA, and ECAC qualifying mark.
The Falcon high jumpers showed that they could jump with the best. Freshmen Ben Sattiewhite and Chavinskee Milcent had extremely successful jumps of 1.95 and 1.90 meters respectively. Both qualified for MASCAC's and DIII New England's, while Sattiwhite's mark also registered him for a trip to ECAC's. Milcent followed up his strong performance with a jump of 6.62 meters in the long jump to qualify him for both MASCAC's and DIII New England's.
The middle distance events were very strong for the Falcon men. Sophomore Chauncey Beatty had an enormous personal record in the 800m. Regardless of limited sprint training, the young middle distance sensation pulled out a MASCAC and DIII New England qualifying time of 1:57.31. Junior Richard Ethier, IV also ran an indoor personal record in the 800m with a time of 1:59.96 to improve his standings in the MASCAC. Senior Ethan Gorecki ran a personal record of 1:08.99 in the 500m. The 400m runners of junior Daniel Fitzpatrick and sophomore Nicholas Levenson also ran MASCAC qualifying personal bests of 52.38 and 52.51 respectively. Senior Jim Quinlan continued to move up the MASCAC rankings in the 1,000m with a season best time of 2:35.78.
The Falcon sprinters also had a strong showing at the Terrier Invite. The day was started off on the right foot with senior Phillip Saint-Juste who ran a MASCAC and DIII New England qualifying time of 8.66 seconds in the 60m high hurdles. Juniors Javier Lozada, Bob Mello, and Akhiel Willis all ran MASCAC qualifying times in the 200m. Lozada sprinted his way to a 23.45, Mello was close behind with a 23.49, and Willis ran a solid 23.89. To finish the day, the 4 x 400 relay team of Beatty, Gorecki, Fitzpatrick, and Levenson put together a season best performance of 3:28.66.
At the Tufts Stampede, freshman pole vaulter Timothy Breen led the way with a MASCAC qualifying height of 3.85 meters to place fifth overall, while junior Daniel Rymer tossed a personal record of 10.82 meters in the weight throw to qualify for MASCAC's,. Junior Timothy Allen was also solid running a season best 16:40.13 in the 5,000m to improve his MASCAC ranking.
The Fitchburg State men's and women's indoor track & field teams will be in action again next weekend, as they visit Tufts University on Saturday, February 7th for the 2015 Cupid Challenge starting at 10 a.m.
Courtesy of Fitchburg State men's and women's assistant track coach Chris Kibler