Two School Records Broken at BU Valentine Invitational

Photo courtesy of Ramapo Athletics

The men and women’s Roadrunners track teams traveled to Boston on Friday to participate in the 2015 BU David Hemery Valentine Invitational, an event hosted by Boston University to which schools from all over the northeast sent their teams.

Other schools that competed in the meet included schools known nationally for their athletic programs, including Dartmouth, University of Connecticut, Northeastern University, Harvard and Boston University. Other New Jersey state schools also made the trip to Boston, including TCNJ and Rutgers University.

For the men’s team, freshman Jeremy Hernandez set a new school record in the mile run with a time of 4:09.22. The time was good for 41st overall in the event and is an Eastern College Athletic Conference qualifying time.

Four other Roadrunners also placed in the men’s mile run, as junior Paul Jeulis, seniors Peter Tuohy and Billy Howell and freshman Chris Dugan finished with times of 4:15.67, 4:16.17, 4:21.10 and 4:27.09 respectively.

Jeulis, Tuohy and Howell’s times were all ECAC qualifying times, and Howell’s mark, which earned him a 139th place finish in the event was a personal best in the mile run.

Also for the men, sophomore Kevin Diana finished 86th in the 400-meter dash with a 22.61 finish and freshman Aaron Wood earned a 91st place finish in the 500-meter dash with a personal best time of 50.63.

The women’s team had success in team events as the Roadrunners earned a 21st place finish in the distance medley and 38th in the 4×400-meter relay.

The team of junior Alicia Green, sophomores Na’Shimah Allen, Mariah Blanton and Kim Guillaume finished the 4×400-meter relay with an ECAC qualifying time of 4:03.28.

In the distance medley, Allen, senior Rachel Herrick, junior Brianna Springsteadah and freshman Paris Hughes set a new school record with an ECAC qualifying time of 12:35.99.

Hughes, Herrick and Springsteadah finished the 800-meter run with times of 2:19.15, 2:21.15 and 2:21.79, good for 73rd, 94th and 97th place finishes respectively.

In the 400-meter dash, Allen and Guillaume posted ECAC qualifying times of 58.98 and 1:01.11 while Blanton finished 107th in the 200-meter dash with a time of 26.36.

The Roadrunners’ next competition will be on Friday, when they host the Roadrunner Tune-up meet at the New Balance Track and Field Center at the New York Armory.

The event is designed to prepare runners for the upcoming New Jersey Athletic Conference and ECAC Championships. The NJAC Championships will be held at the New York Armory on Feb. 26, while the ECAC Championships will be at the same location on March 3. 

mmontal1@ramapo.edu