BOSTON, Mass. – It was another incredible day for Brandeis track and field as the men's and women's squads split up with some heading to Boston University for the second day of the 2018 David Hemery Valentine Invitation while others headed to the Gordon Kelly Invite hosted by MIT.
The highlight of the day came from graduate student Irie Gourde (Portland, Ore./ York Academy, Canada) who set a personal best for the 400 meters. Gourde ran 47.81 to place second in his heat, 1st among Division III athletes and 12th overall in a field which included professionals as well as athletes from Division I, Division II and Division III schools. Gourde currently sits first in the in the Division III rankings by nearly four-tenths of a second, with the next closest runner on the list coming in at 48.19.
Gourde than came back later to compete in the 200 meters alongside teammate Regan Charie (Topsfield, Mass./ Masconomet Reg.) where both set season-best and set themselves up to for a potential 1-2 finish at the UAA championships after the duo went 2-3 last season. Gourde came home in 21.87, 12th nationally, while Charie ran 22.66.
In the women's distance medley relay, a pair of twins came together to run the eighth-fastest time in Division III this season. Emily Bryson (Quincy, Mass./ North Quincy) led off the 1200m leg, handed off the baton for the 400m run by Lisbeth Valdez (Providence, R.I./ Hope) who then passed it on to her sister Leinni Valdez (Providence, R.I./ Hope) for the 800m, Julia Bryson (Quincy, Mass./ North Quincy) took the baton home on the 1600m leg to stop the clock at 11:57.84.
Over at MIT, senior Jordin Carter (Fort Wayne, Ind./ R. Nelson Snyder) backed up her school record 20-pound weight throw toss from the night before with a yet another school record. Less than twenty-four hours after throwing 15.00m Carter heaved a throw of 15.81m (51-10 ft.). The new mark puts Carter 25th on the national list. Since the start of the season, Carter has established a new school record on four different occasions and has now extended the mark by more than a full meter, or three-and-a-half feet.
Also at MIT sophomore Jack Allan (Wrentham, Mass./ King Phillip Regional) set a new personal best in the 60m hurdles. Allan won the event with a time of 8.66 seconds. Junior Kanya Brown (Amherst, Mass./ Amherst Regional) ran her fourth race in two days to set a seasonal best in the 60m running 8.22 seconds to place fourth overall. Scott Grote (Greenfield, Mass./ Greenfield), also a junior, threw a personal best in the weight throw. Grote heaved the 35-pound implement 14.72m (48-3.5). Sophomore Madeline Hayman (Worcester, Mass./ Burncoat) ran a huge personal best in winning the 800m in a time of 2:23.92. Hayman's previous best was 2:26.72.
At BU some other highlights included a personal best from senior Max Whitmore (Wayne, N.J./ Newark Academy) who ran 4:24.45 in the mile. Sophomores Jacob Judd (West Hartford, Conn./ Conard) and Erez Needleman (Bronx, N.Y./ High School of American Studies) also set personal bests in the 800m running 1:58.66 and 2:00.75 respectively. Freshman Josh Lombardo (Westbrook, Maine/ Westbrook) ran a personal best in the 1000m posting a time of 2:35.40. Senior Ryan Stender (Amherst, Mass./ Amherst Regional) closed the weekend with a small season best in the 3000m run which sets him up nicely to attempt to regain the UAA 3000m title he won in 2016.
The Judges kick off the championships portion of the season with the Division III New England Championships taking place at Middlebury on the 16th and 17th for the men and Springfield for the women.
- by Eli Waxler '19