Coming off a stellar 2013-2014 Indoor Track Season that saw her capture second place in the 400 meters at the NCAA Division III Championships in March as well as earning All-American status, Beacons Women’s Track and Field star Hulerie McGuffie was back at it again last month at the 2014 Little East Conference/New Alliance Championships on April 27. McGuffie set a new program record by winning five of the eight gold medals captured by both the Men’s Women’s teams, leading the Women’s side to a fourth place finish, the highest in team history.
“I worked my [butt] off to finish off the best I can in outdoor,” McGuffie said. “I got to see how far indoor could bring me so with outdoor being my favorite season, I hope to experience a great rest of the season.”
The sophomore out of Lynn kicked things off by teaming up with Anisha Trappier, Renee O’Brien, and Krista Ledin to capture the 4×100 meter relay in a scintillating 48.63 seconds. She would then go on to set Little East Conference Championship meet records in both the 100 (12.26 seconds) and 200 (25.21 seconds) meter dashes before taking the long jump with a leap of 16-06.5 feet. McGuffie would then top off her banner day with a victory in the 4×400 meter relay, combining with Trappier, O’Brien and Ariana Leao to finish in a meet record 4:03.24.
Joining McGuffie and her relay teammates in the gold rush was junior Carl Joseph in the high jump and freshman Taylor Smith in the discus on the men’s side. Senior Renee O’Brien added a gold medal in the high jump to add to her medals in the relays. The team’s eight first-place finishes were the most ever in program history.
“[Winning eight golds] shows that we all worked as hard as we can to do the best we all could,” said McGuffie. “The program is growing and has come a long way from [where it began] and with the success we’ve all been having, it can only go up from here.”
Much like her last two seasons, McGuffie is once again among the top sprinters in the country. Her 100 meter dash time currently ranks her 24th, while her 200 meter dash time of 24.81 ranks her ninth. The 4×100 meter relay team’s time of 48.20 sits at 18th, and her time of 55.80 in the 400 meter dash, the event that has brought her the most success, places her second in the country as of April 28.
Just to add some more icing to the cake on April 27, Hulerie received her 2014 Little East Conference Indoor Track Runner of the Year Award, becoming the first female in program history to be given that honor. McGuffie has also been named Little East Conference Track Athlete of the Week nine times between this year’s indoor and outdoor seasons and has been named ECAC Division III New England Track Athlete of the Week a total of three times.
Combined with the three gold medals won at this past year’s Little East Conference Indoor Championship and the three gold medals won during last year’s indoor and outdoor Conference Championships, McGuffie has now amassed an amazing 11 golds in her career along with being named an All-American twice in two seasons.
Despite all the early success, McGuffie knows she must remain focus and keep striving for her ultimate goal, to win a National Championship.
“For the rest of the season, I hope to run another personal best,” she says. “And hopefully I end up being a National Champion in the 400 meters.”