Brooklyn, N.Y. – Junior Jessie Gaines and senior Julius Mutekanga sit atop the Northeast Conference for the second week, with both retaining their NEC Track Athlete of the Week Honors from the week of Jan. 18. Gaines and Mutekanga led a strong Long Island showing at the Great Dane Classic at the Armory this past weekend.

 

The Chesapeake, Va. native turned in her two top times of the season at the Classic. Gaines grabbed the top spot in the 60-meter hurdles, racing to an 8.54, and the top spot in the 60-meter dash, clocking in at 7.67.  The 8.54 in the hurdles now puts Gaines in the top-50 on the NCAA Division I leaderboard as of Jan. 24. Jumping nine spots from last week, Gaines now sits at 44^th in the nation. While she was fourth overall in the dash, she was the third collegiate competitor, and lost only to a pair of Pitt sprinters.

 

Mutekanga shares this week's honor with sprinter Aaron Radden from Central Connecticut State. The Fort Portal, Uganda native continued his domination in the middle distance events, clocking in at 1:51.56 in the 800-meter run at the Great Dane Classic. The second place finish gives Mutekanga the No. 1 seed in that event along with the 500-meter dash, which he earned last week at the NYC Gotham Cup.  

 

The Blackbirds return to action on Saturday, Jan. 29 at the Metropolitan Invitational at the Armory in New York, N.Y.