MEDFORD and CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Senior Irie Gourde of Portland, Ore., and sophomore Emily Bryson of Quincy, Mass., claimed New England Division III Indoor Track and Field Championships this afternoon in the 200-meter dash and mile run at Tufts and MIT, respectively.
Gourde helped the Brandeis men to an 11th-place finish, their best finish at New Englands since at least 2007, by scoring 18 of the team's 22 points. He became Brandeis's first men's New England Champion in at least a decade by claiming the 200-meter dash in a photo finish. Gourde and Colby-Sawyer's Rasheed Foster were separated by just 0.004 of a second, 22.321 for Gourde to 22.324 for Foster. Though his 200 time wasn't his fastest of the season, because of track conversions, he will improve to 15th in Division III in the event with his win. Gourde also placed second in the 400-meter dash with a time of 50.09 seconds to earn a second All-New England honor.
On the women's side, the Judges cracked the top 20 for the second year in a row, tying for 19thplace with 12 points. Bryson won the mile run with a time of 4:59.01. Bryson, who finished fourth indoors in New England a year ago to earn her first indoor honor, claimed her first regional crown. She edged defending New England champion Maryann Gong of MIT by 0.39 seconds in what was described as a tactical race. Overall, this was Bryson's fifth All-New England honor, one for each cross country and track season she has competed in.
Also earning All-New England honors for the men was rookie Jack Allan (Wrentham, Mass. / King Phillip Regional) in the heptathlon. Allan scored 4330 points to finish in fifth place as one of Brandeis's first multi-event athletes in recent memory. He was tied for the meet's top performance in the high jump (1.81 meters, 5 feet, 11 ¼ inches) and added fourth-place finishes in the 60-meter hurdles (9.00 seconds) and long jump (6.22m, 20-5). Allan also had PRs in the shot put (10.61m, 34-9 ¾) and pole vault (3.25m, 10-8).
The Judges' final All-New England performance came on the women's side, where sophomore Doyin Ogundiran (Dix Hills, N.Y./Half Hollow Hills East) placed seventh in the 600-meter dash. Ogundiran won her heat with a personal-best time of 1:39.54, good enough for seventh place after the other three heats were run. Ogundiran was 20th in the 800 last year at New Englands.
OTHER PERFORMANCES – MEN
- Sophomore Regan Charie (Topsfield, Mass. / Masconomet Reg.) – 10th in 200 (22.82 seconds), 13th in 60 dash (7.18 seconds).
- Junior Mitchell Hutton (Villa Park, Calif./Villa Park) – 17th in 3,000 (8:47.09)
- Rookie Churchill Perry (Pembroke Pines, Fla. / Westminster Academy) – 10th in triple jump (12.67m, 41-7)
- 4x800m relay – Erez Needleman (Bronx, NY / High School of American Studies at Lehman College), Brad Payne (Westport, Conn. / Staples), Jacob Judd (West Hartford, Conn. / Conard), Dillon Garvey (West Springfield, Mass./West Springfield) – 15th place, 8:28.14.
- Distance Medley Relay – Alec Rogers (Wakefield, Mass./Wakefield Memorial), Jeremy Wilson (Elizabeth, N.J./Elizabeth), Dillon Garvey, Max Whitmore (Wayne, N.J./Newark Acad.) – 14th place, 11:04.26
OTHER PERFORMANCES – WOMEN
- Sophomore Kanya Brown (Amherst, Mass./Amherst) – 23rd in 60-meter dash (8.26 seconds).
- 4x400m relay – Maya Sands-Bliss, Lydia Harris, Kayla Fahey, Arial Nieberding, 17th place, 4:22.59
- DMR – Meaghan Barry, Aubrey Clemens, Madeline Hayman, Christine Minor, 15th place, 13:27.50.
UP NEXT
- Brandeis returns home for the 2017 University Athletic Association championships next Saturday and Sunday, February 25 and 26.