Indoor Track Running Through Regionals

COURTESY PHOTO

The men’s and women’s indoor track and field teams competed in the New England Regionals this past weekend. The NCAA division three meet was held at the Johnson Athletic Center at MIT for a two-day event that started on Friday. This would lead up to a select few of athletes for Plymouth State being chosen to run in the National Championship meet.

The first day for the men’s team, we saw a big performance from sophomore Terrell Lewis (Nashua NH). He competed in four events that would earn himself, and the team, 3^rd place for the day out of the 12 teams. Lewis started the day off in the 60-meter dash and was close to breaking his personal record, but instead tied it (time 7.44 seconds). Next, we went to the long jump where he soared 6.29 meters which put him comfy in 4^th place for the heptathlon but his distance in shotput sent him back a bit. It came down to the high jump, where he shined the most, once again matching a record for the indoor team, and happened to only by tenths of a meter from his personal record.

The women’s team made a big splash into the first day with the DMR team and the relay of 4x200. The combination of Eve Bagley (Holliston MA), Leanne Burgess (Bradford VT), Kim Bowles (Wonalancet NH) and Claire Greinder (East Greenwich RI) blew the previous track record off the wall. Improving it by almost nine seconds and running their season-best set a strong mood for the day. The trio of Diana Perez (Cranston RI), Hannah Wescott (St. Johnsbury VT) and Emily Geyselaers (Cornwall Bridge CT) broke track records as well. There finish of 12^th overall and time of 1:49:75 beat the previous record by over a second.

Day two for the men’s team saw a lot more athletes performing. Lewis dominated on Saturday and was recognized at All-New England status from his finishes. In 60-meter hurdles, he took the race overall in 8.4 seconds. He went to compete in the pole vault and made a new record for himself in the 1000-meter run by over five seconds. He now holds a spot in the top 15 in the nation and placed a new track record for the most accumulated points. Warren Bartlett (Loudon NH) also received ANE honors after finishing 4^th in the mile run. Zach Wallace (Wayne ME) was another Panther that broke a record for himself in shotput after topping his distance by 0.17 meters.

For the women’s team on day two, they had three athletes representing them. Perez competed in the long jump for the last time and went for a distance of 4.88 meters. Wescott earned herself a 16^th place finish in the 60-meter hurdles for his tome of 9.69 seconds. But she didn’t stop there and instead finished her first year by clearing the high jump 1.58 meters; her new personal best.

The men’s team will go to Tufts this weekend to compete in NCAA’s. The women’s team finishes their season with the best finish they ever have.