Gourde Sets 200m School Record at Sean Collier Invitational

Irie Gourde '17 (Photo by Sportspix)
Irie Gourde '17 (Photo by Sportspix)

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The men and women's track teams wrapped up the invitational season today at the 2018 Sean Collier Invite hosted by MIT.  This meet marked the final time for the Judges to get out on the track before the championship portion of the season begins as the UAA Outdoor Championships kick off next weekend in Pittsburg. 

The highlight of the meet came from graduate student Irie Gourde (Portland, Ore./York Academy, Canada) who produces a school-record run in the 200m.  Gourde crossed the line with a time of 21.59 seconds, beating second place by .47 seconds.  This was almost a .10 second personal best for Gourde who had previously run 21.67 seconds last year.  Also of note, Gourde recorded a personal best of 10.96 seconds to win the 100m dash. Both of these performances were DIII New England and All-New England qualifying times.

Close behind Gourde in the shorter of the two sprints was junior Regan Charie (Topsfield, Mass./Masconomet Reg.).  Charie finished 2nd in the 100m with a time of 11.15, a seasons best.  Along with his individual second-place finish, Charie racked up runner-up honors as part of the 4x100m relay that ran 43.30, a slight improvement on their season-best from last weekend.  The relay consisted of Lorenzo Maddox (Atlanta, Ga./Maynard Jackson), Jacob Ward (Weston, Fla./Cypress Bay), Churchill Perry (Pembroke Pines, Fla./Westminster Academy), and was anchored by the aforementioned Charie.

On the women's side, the day went to the middle distance athletes.  Both the 800m and 1500m had trios of Judges who shined and many of who qualified for the DIII New England Championships with their performances.  In the 800m junior Doyin Ogundiran (Dix Hills, N.Y./Half Hollow Hills East) ran 2:16.80 for 3rd and was followed closely by both Valdez twins with Lisbeth Valdez (Providence, R.I./Hope) running 2:20.47 for 7th and Leinni Valdez (Providence, R.I./Hope) running 2:21.48 for 11th.  All three times met the standard for the DIII NE.    

The 1500m had an even tighter pack of Judges taking 1st, 4th and 5th.  Junior Julia Bryson (Quincy, Mass./North Quincy) took home the win in a time of 4:47.44.  Senior Kyra Shreeve (Northborough, Mass./Algonquin Reg.) was 4th with a time of 4:53.87 while junior Meaghan Barry (Marlborough, Mass./ Worcester Acad.) crossed the line with a time of 4:55.34 for 5th.  Bryson's time qualifies her for the Division III New England Championships. 

In the men's distance events senior Ryan Stender (Amherst, Mass./ Amherst Reg.) picked up a DIII New England qualifier in his first meet of the outdoor season.  Stender dealt with a small amount of injury at the beginning of the season but one would not have known that today as he won his seasonal debut in the 5000m with a time of 15:17.50.  

 Two final post-season qualifiers from the women's team were sophomore Lydia Harris (Damariscotta, M.E./Lincoln Acad.) and junior Kanya Brown (Amherst, Mass./Amherst Reg.).  Harris won the 400m hurdles in a time of 68.87 seconds, a personal best.  Brown recorded a season best in the 100m qualifying for the DIII NE meet with a time of 12.87 seconds. 

The men also had a number of other championship qualifying performances.  Both junior Scott Grote (Greenfield, Mass./Greenfield) and sophomore Churchill Perry (Pembroke Pines, Fla./Westminster Acad.) recorded 2nd place finished in their respective events.  Grote tossed the discus 45.86m (150'5"), a near six-foot personal best.  Perry continued his impressive outdoor season, having placed either 1st or 2nd in every triple jump competition he has competed in, as he placed second today with a jump of 13.56m (44'6").  The final Division III New England qualifier was sophomore Aaron Corin (Sudbury, Mass./Lincoln-Sudbury) who placed 3rd in the pole vault with a vault of 4.25m (13'11.25").  The jump was only 1 centimeter off of his personal best, set at last years UAA Outdoor championships.

Fittingly, Corin and the rest of the Judges track team will get a chance to compete at the UAA Outdoor Championships in just a weeks time, when the meet kicks off at Carnegie Melon University on April 28th -29th