Meet Results
Landover, Md. - The Long Island University women's indoor track and field team held off Monmouth to claim its second straight team title at the 2011 Northeast Conference Indoor Track & Field Championships. The LIU men's team narrowly missed defending its own title, finishing third in the overall standings, a scant six points behind the champions Central Connecticut State. Junior Jessie Gaines was named NEC Most Valuable Performer on the women's side, while also claiming Most Outstanding Track and Most Outstanding Field Performer honors as well.
The women's championship came down to the last event with the
Blackbirds leading Monmouth by four points heading into the 4x400 relay. A third-place finish for the LIU team of seniors Ashley Veney and Christine Jones and sophomores Amber Mitchell and Kadisha Wickham garnered enough points to overcome a second-place finish by Monmouth. In the end, Long Island claimed the title with 138 points and Monmouth fell just short with 136.
Gaines was the star of the meet, claiming multiple titles on the way to a third consecutive NEC Most Valuable Performer award. Gaines totaled four gold medals and one silver, setting three meet records in the process.
Running in Saturday's 60-meter hurdles qualifying round, Gaines tied the meet record she set last year before turning in a new all-time NEC low in Sunday's final. Torching the field on the way to her third consecutive NEC 60-meter hurdles crown, Gaines clocked in at 8.34. The three-time MVP also broke the meet record in the 60-meter dash (7.53) meet and triple jump (12.55m). She came up short in her bid to repeat in the 200-meter dash, finishing second, but responded by winning the long jump, an event she took runner-up honors in last year.
LIU juniors Jazmin Waller and Torrie Saunders also scored in multiple events to help deliver the team title. Waller finished second in the high jump, third in both the 60-meter dash and 60-meter hurdles, fifth in the long jump and seventh in the 200-meter dash. Saunders claimed second in the 60-meter hurdles, third in the triple jump, fourth in the 200-meter dash and sixth in the 60-meter dash.
On the men's side, the Blackbirds claimed a 1-2 finish in the long jump with senior Corryl Boyd registering a leap of 7.25 meters, while sophomore Brian Richards took second with a mark of 7.13 meters. Sophomore Wilmot Stubblefield and junior Amire Solomon took first and second in the triple jump with leaps of 14.06 and 13.90 meters.
Senior Julius Mutekanga won the 400-meter dash with a time of 49.60 and finished second in the 800-meter run (1:53.64), while his classmate Samuel Egadu won the 500-meter in 1:05.43. Junior Robert Barnes made it a 1-2 finish in the race, clocking in at 1:05.87.
The 4x400-meter relay team of Boyd, Egadu, Barnes and senior Elmo Neckles won in a time of 3:21.92.