Northeastern University Athletics

The Northeastern men’s track & field team is positioned in third place after day one and within striking distance to capture its first CAA championship after 12 Huskies collected points at the Virginia 529 College Savings Plan CAA Men’s and Women’s Track and Field Championships on Friday at SportsBackers Stadium hosted by VCU.

Rookie #Eric Jenkins# continues to dominate the distance events and became Northeastern’s first 5,000-meter CAA champion in program history after edging Delaware’s Andy Weaver by half a second with a time of 14:27.04 to capture a lucrative 10 points for the Huskies.

After the first day, defending champion George Mason is on top of the men’s competition with 62 points, while William & Mary is close behind with 54 points. Northeastern is in third place with 51.5 points, followed by Delaware (38 points), UNC Wilmington (17.5 points) and VCU (10 points).

Jenkins was joined by 11 other teammates who scored points along with an additional five who placed into six final heats for tomorrow’s final day of competition.

The Huskies dominated the long jump thanks to the efforts of junior #Andrew Staples#, rookie #Kaylin Miranda# and sophomore #Tejorn Davis#. Staples cleared 7.23m for second place and eight points while Miranda nearly matched him with a third-place vault of 7.22m for six points. Davis picked up one final point with an eighth-place lead of 6.71m.

Newcomers #Christopher Reider# and #James Hall# continued the strong showing in the field with respective second and fourth-place efforts in the javelin throw and hammer throw.

Reider’s second-place throw of 54.73m garnered eight points while Hall’s pitch of 54.08m was good enough for five points. Classmate #Max Milder# was awarded three points for his sixth-place toss of 52.57m while senior veteran #Alex Iannetta# closed out in seventh place with a mark of 51.03m, good for two points. Sophomore #Greg Andrus# also scored in the javelin throw, notching a seventh-place heave of 48.82m for two points.

Junior tri-captain #Brian Daly# was Northeastern’s final scorer in the field on Friday after tying for fourth place in the pole vault. The Northborough, Mass. native drew even with Delware’s Joe Passalaqua after clearing 4.51m and picking up 4.50 points.

Turning back to the track, the Huskies’ distance team picked up two more points thanks to the efforts of senior #Joe Siravo# and rookie #Brian Doyle#. Siravo paced himself for an eighth-place time of 32:02.62 for eight place and one points while Doyle was awarded the same slot in the 5,000-meter run after crossing the line in 15:06.41.

Thanks to the persistent field scoring and tireless efforts of Northeastern’s distance contingent, the Huskies look to make their move in the shorter distance events on Saturday with five more potential scorers in six events.

Senior tri-captain #Jonathan Hall# breezed past the 400-meter hurdles competition and is the favorite heading into Saturday after winning the preliminary event in 53.37.

Newcomer #Sean Collins# positioned himself in the finals in both the 110-meter and 400-meter hurdles finals after a big showing on Friday. Collins’ seventh-place jaunt of 15.10 passed him into the finals while his fifth-place march of 55.17 earned him a spot on the line against seven others tomorrow.

Junior transfer #Darius Velez# sped into tomorrow’s 100-meter dash finals after a seventh-place showing of 10.73. Velez’s mark now stands as the fifth-fastest time in Huskies history, topping his previous NU best by two- hundredths of a second (10.75).

Junior #Evan Whetsell# will be among the eight finalists in tomorrow’s 800-meter fash after posting a fifth-place qualifying mark of 1:52.64.

With the Huskies just 10.5 points behind George Mason and six more potential scorers along with the conclusion of the decathlon (#Jackson MacDonald# and #Dylan Lucas#), Northeastern is in prime position to rise to the top.

The Virginia 529 College Savings Plan CAA Men’s and Women’s Track and Field Championships continue at 9 a.m. on Saturday at SportsBackers Stadium with the decathlon and heptathlon competitions. Field events get underway at 10 a.m. and the track finals begin at 1 p.m.