Competing in the program’s first-ever Patriot League Championships, the Boston University track and field team posted impressive results over the weekend at host site Bucknell University.
The women’s squad took first place in decisive fashion, tallying a total of 210 points over the course of the meet, finishing 80 points ahead of second-place Lehigh University.
“It was really, truly a team effort,” said BU director of track and field Robyne Johnson. “Every event we had people in, we scored, and I was just really ecstatic about the performances of everyone on our team. When you talk about team championships, this is what you need. You need everyone else to help out and get points where they can, and they all came through.”
The men finished with 109 points, putting them in fourth place behind the U.S. Naval Academy (201.83 points), Bucknell (173 points) and the U.S. Military Academy (135.33 points).
Senior Rich Peters was awarded Male Track Athlete of the Meet after winning both the mile race with a time of 4:04.74 and the 1,000m run, where he completed the five-lap race in 2:26.90.
The championship began Friday with the women’s pentathlon and the first four events in the men’s heptathlon. BU had several of its multi-event athletes showcase their prowess. Sophomore Catherine Sampson placed second in the 60m hurdles and fourth in the shot put on her way to a third-place finish in the five-event competition.
On the men’s side, senior Nat Hinckley had a strong meet, as he was third in the heptathlon with a career-best 4567 points.
Day two of the meet started out with the women’s weight throw and long jump. The team totaled 18 team points in these two events, 10 of which were earned by senior Hannah Wiley as she won the long jump with a distance of 5.87 meters.
Sophomore Michelle Sumner also won her event later in the day, the 5,000m run, with a time of 17:03.13.
For the men field event specialists, senior Connor Sullivan finished second in the high jump with a distance of 2.04m, and senior Blake Edwards jumped 7.13m in the long jump, which was good for third place. Sophomore Reuben Horace also won the 35lb weight throw.
As Saturday drew to a close, the women were holding onto second place while the men had claimed third. The women had put up 42 points so far in their campaign, 24 behind first place Lehigh and the men were 38 behind points behind first.
The final day of the meet brought with it multiple explosive performances from the Terriers, particularly the women, who swept places one through four in the mile. Senior Monica Adler led the quartet, finishing with a time of 4:43.46. Following Adler in the race were senior Rosa Moriello (4:58.65), senior Nikki Long (5:01.91) and junior Ashli Tagoai (5:03.87). Moriello would later place first in the 3,000m run with a time of 9:38.22.
To cap off the successful weekend, the women’s 4x400m relay team, comprised of freshman Djenne Parris, senior Janet Mellor, sophomore Jade Paul and freshman Toria Levy dominated the competition, placing first by over three seconds.
“Those kinds of things don’t just come along every day,” Johnson said of her team’s strong performances Sunday afternoon.
Johnson also brought home some hardware of her own, winning the conference’s Female Coach of the Year Award.
“I’m humbled by the other coaches voting that for me, but I also need to share that with my other coaches on staff because it’s not just me,” Johnson said. “Just the work out there, my whole staff does a great job and even though it was given to me, it’s more of a staff award.”
The meet came to an end late Sunday afternoon as the teams gathered for the award ceremony. In its first year as a Patriot League member, the women’s track & field team was victorious in its quest for that number one spot.
“It’s great,” Johnson said. “It speaks to our coaching staff and our kids being committed to getting better and working hard every day. These are the fruits of our labor, if you will, and I think it makes a big impression to the league and we’re just really ecstatic about winning the championship.”
