Rudolph may have stopped running a while ago, but men’s and women’s track haven’t stopped since! UMass Boston’s winter track and field season is underway, and the Beacons ran through the finish line with some swift feet and worn down shoes, all for the love of the game. Both men’s and women’s track and field participated in events on consecutive days prior to winter break, the latter of which was hosted by UMass Boston at The TRACK at New Balance Sunday, Dec. 10. The previous day saw both programs travel to the Wesleyan Winter Invite in Middletown, Conn., and the Beacons picked up right where they left off last winter.
Similarly to the Suffolk regionals the previous week Saturday, Dec. 2, women’s track and field headlined the best times among both teams. Jacqueline Earner once again proved herself to be a top performer in distance running, taking home first place in the 1,000-meter run with ease, finishing in 3:09.96, her mark provided by Track and Field Results Reporting System. [1] Ariyanna Garceau continued her dominant track record alongside Earner, also taking first place, this event being the 60-meter preliminary, qualifying her for the finals after netting a time of 9.29s. She followed up her showing in the prelims with a fourth place finish in the finals, this time crossing in 9.96s. Garceau doubled up on her duties in the long jump, taking eighth place in the event, respectively.
The fun didn’t stop there, as Dorinda Okorji nabbed second place in the 60-meter run after blazing past the finish line in 7.98 seconds, while Angelina Cabral followed suit with a 27th-place finish in 9.24s. Like Garceau, Cabral also worked double time, taking 19th place in Shot Put. Amiya Sharp was sharp in the 800-meter, grabbing third place in 3:11.25. Grace Colon went the distance in the mile run, coming in eighth place with a remarkable sub-six minute mile at 5:54.32 to round out the day on the track. [1]
In field events, Mackenzie Jorgensen pulled herself up to a sixth-place ranking on the leaderboard on the pole vault, while Hialeah Foster fought enough for fifth place in the long jump to coincide with Garceau’s finish in the event. Four Beacons participated in Shot Put; Cayla Jean-Louis, Kelsy Duong and Delaney Sartwell came in 12th, 14th and 18th-place alongside Cabral’s 19th-place finish. To finish the day for women’s track and field, Abigail Schell made a dent in the weight throw, shelling out and showing out with a 12th-place rank. [1]
Much like women’s track and field, men’s track and field faced the same events head on and came out of the day having conquered numerous events. Isaiah Stressman turned in the top performance for the team, as he took some stress off the Beacons’ plate with a fifth place mark after generating a 10.47-meter triple jump, his statistics also courtesy of the Track and Field Results Reporting System. [2] Sebastian Bien Amie fared well in the 800m run, his time was traced back to a report of 3:11.69. Rob Cannon has made a name for himself in distance running as well—it must run in the family—and he grabbed eighth place in the mile run with an absurd sub-five minute mark of 4:53.40. A second group of four Beacons repped the blue and white in the 60m prelims; Cekoi Smith, Melvin Wiltshire, Hugo Dos Santos and Brady Poirier got their legs kicking, posting ranks of 16th, 17th, 24th and 32nd-place, respectively. [2]
The High Jump event featured Noah Arigoni posting a 10th-place mark, while Stressman became the third Beacon to work a double, as his mark was good enough for 12th place. Pradheep Bassan represented the Beacons alongside Stressman in the triple jump, and he basked in the aftermath of his flashy leap, taking ninth place in the process. [2]
Both teams showed heaves of improvement compared to their performances at the Suffolk relays, and with the season still young, kept their morale high as they transitioned to their home complex for UMass Boston’s hosted event the following day. Beacons Athletics reported what was another strong day on the Beacons’ stomping grounds, as the Beacons were in the midst of conquering the competition in their continuous cycle of “eat, sleep, conquer, repeat.” The Beacons’ season opener at the TRACK was nothing short of monumental. The sequence of events that transpired proved to be one of the biggest steps the program has taken in recent years, and both teams flaunted their capabilities to arguably the greatest degree they have all year.
They must have watched “Dead Poets Society,” because women’s track seized the day from the start. Earner resumed her position as a top performer, while also securing a role as a top face of women’s track in the Little East Conference. She ran away with first place in the 800m run for the second day in a row, while Harleen Bassan followed in her footsteps, finishing in second place for a prestigious back-to-back placement at the top of the leaderboard. Sharp also participated in the race, coming in seventh. [3]
Okorji and Garceau notched fifth and seventh place finishes in the 60m preliminary, while Garceau reached seventh place in the 60m finals. Foster also fought hard in the prelims, adding a 13th-place finish to her array of races. Sarah Campbell was the lone runner in the mile run, and cleared with a 12th-place standing. Garceau worked a double for the second day in a row, building her status as an elite runner with third place finishes in both the 60m hurdle prelims and finals. Charlotte Millette ran alongside Garceau in the prelims and took 17th place. Colon kept shining with another magnificent performance, impressively taking fourth place in the daunting 3,000-meter run.
In the field, Garceau worked overtime on top of her double, taking fifth place in the High Jump, while Okorji joined in on the action with a ninth place finish of her own. Jorgensen vaulted herself to eighth place among her competitors in the Pole Vault, and Foster molded herself into fourth place in the High Jump. To end off the day for women’s track, four competitors took part in both Shot Put and Weight Throws; Jean-Louis, Duong, Sartwell and Cabral clutched 15th, 18th, 20th and 23rd place in the former. Schell, Jean-Louis, Sartwell and Duong threw the weights around and secured 10th, 11th, 15th and 17th place, closing out a memorable day for women’s track all around. [3]
Men’s track trekked along the same path as their counterparts and came out firing to end with some splendid finishes of their own, as reported by Beacons Athletics. Cannon and Stressman were two of the top performers, with Cannon improving his mark from the previous day by claiming fourth place in the 1,000m run, and Stressman once again grasping a top-five rank in the Triple Jump with fifth place. Omosigho Asuen ran the 60m dash and slotted into 23rd place, while Wiltshire, Dos Santos and Smith were joined by Kitshenatus Adrien and Samuel Darius in the 200-meter run, placing 18th, 31st, 34th, 42nd and 45th, respectively. Cody Witthun took over Cannon’s duties in the Mile Run and came out with a winner’s mentality after grabbing 14th place. [4]
In the field, Stressman got 12th place in the Long Jump to accommodate his efforts in the Triple Jump, while Bassan sneaked into seventh place in the Triple Jump to complement Stressman’s performance. The day came to an end with Arthur Grant’s efforts in Shot Put, which ultimately gave him 11th place. Overall, not too shabby of a day from men’s track, though like always, there’s still some work to be done. [4]
Both men’s and women’s winter track programs have taken leaps and bounds with some of their early work, and a lot of this success can be chalked up to their work ethic in previous installations dating back to Fall 2022. Both teams have seen individual runners flourish, as Earner and Garceau have established themselves as earnest contenders in the LEC, not to mention the emergence of Harleen Bassan, Okorji and Cannon, among other athletes, who have contributed to the Beacons’ recent windfalls.
With winter track now in full swing, there’s no question that, given the track record of how they fared last winter with Earner and Garceau taking home gold in the LEC championship, the Beacons have a lot of wiggle room and are more comfortable during the indoor months. Now, it’s only a matter of time until the program will take even more gigantic strides, and with the spring season coming in short time, prosperity may fold over for the Beacons when they take their first steps into the great outdoors.