Indoor track opens season at UMass Boston

Erez Needleman '20 (photo by Sportspix.com)
Erez Needleman '20 (photo by Sportspix.com)

BOSTON, Mass. – The Brandeis University indoor track and field team opened its 2018-19 campaign today with the non-scoring UMass Boston Invitational. The Judges saw one school record broken and had one event winner and five other top-three finishes.

 

MEET HIGHLIGHTS

  • The school record was established by rookie Sonali Anderson (Fayetteville, Ga. / Whitewater) in the 60-meter hurdles. Anderson ran 9.70 seconds in the prelims and 9.62 in the finals to finish in sixth place. In the process, she broke a record that had stood since the 2012-13 season.
  • The Judges' lone winner came from the men's side, where junior Erez Needleman (Bronx, N.Y. / High School of American Studies) crossed the line first in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:02.68. It was his third-fastest indoor time and was about a third of a second ahead of the runner-up.
  • Sophomore twin sisters Lisbeth Valdez and Leinni Valdez (Providence, R.I./Hope) provided second- and third-place finishes in the 500-meter dash with times of 1:19.64 and 1:20.22, respectively. Lisbeth missed winning the race by three seconds.
  • Another second-place finish came from sophomore Andrea Bolduc (Auburn, Mass./Auburn), who came in runner-up in the mile run with a personal best time of 5:20.74, the top collegian in the race. Senior Doyin Ogundiran (Dix Hills, N.Y./Half Hollow Hills East) ran her first collegiate mile and came in fifth in 5:25.54.
  • The Judges' final second-place finisher was junior Willa Moen (Ashland, Ore./Ashland), who was the runner-up in the pole vault on tiebreakers with a height of 2.90 meters (9 feet, 6 ¼ inches).
  • Finishing third for the Judges was the women's top dual threat, as rookie Devin Hiltunen (Quincy, Mass. / North Quincy) was third in the 400-meter dash with a time of 1:01.59 and ninth in the 200 with a mark of 27.03 seconds. She was just about a second off the winning pace in the 400.
  • The Judges had one other finisher place in the top 10 in two events, men's senior sprinter Regan Charie (Topsfield, Mass./Masconomet Regional). Charie came in sixth in the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.17 seconds and seventh in the 200 with a time of 23.02 seconds.

OTHER TOP TEN PERFORMANCES – WOMEN

  • Sophomore Mahala Lavis (Portland, Ore./Grant), 1,000-meters, 6th place, 3:23.97
  • Senior Christine Minor (Alameda, Calf. / Alameda), 3,000-meters, 8th, 11:17.53
  • First-year Erin Magill (Moretown, Vt. / Harwood Union), 3,000-meters, 10th, 11:23.43

OTHER TOP TEN PERFORMANCES – MEN

  • Sophomore Breylen Ammen (Lincoln, Mass. / Lincoln Sudbury), pole vault, 6th, 4.00 meters (13-1 ½)
  • Senior Scott Grote (Greenfield, Mass. / Greenfield), 35-pound weight throw, T6th, 15.65 meters (51-4 ¼)
  • Sophomore Patrick Quinlan (Northhampton, Mass. / Northhampton), 400-meters, 9th, 52.01
  • Sophomore Eric Rosenheim (Haddon Heights, N.J. / Haddon Heights), 1,000-meters, 9th, 2:50.21
  • First-year Dionysus Morris Evans (Canal Fulton, Ohio / Northwest), 60-meter hurdles, 10th, 9.04