The University of Maine men and women’s track and field teams participated in the Joe Donahue Games, an invitational meet hosted by Northeastern University, this past Friday. At the invitational, the men placed eighth out of 14, while the women fought their way to 10th out of 14.
The women finished with 16 points, which tied them with Holy Cross. Maine pushed ahead of Harvard, Bryant and Central Connecticut for their final placing.
For the long jump, first-year Ariel Clachar finished sixth overall and took three points for the team, jumping 5.58 meters. She was Maine’s only entrant in the long jump, but also participated in the 60-meter dash, finishing 18th in 7.98 seconds and in the 200-meter dash, finishing 29th in 26.59 seconds.
Maine had three entrants in the 800-meter run. Fourth-year Shannon O’Neil ran a 2:19.41, which earned her seventh place and earned the team two points. Third-year runners Kelsey Maxim and Ahlin Sungsuwan completed the event in 2:23.50 and 2:27.13 respectively.
Fourth-year Jaclyn Masters won the women’s pole vault event by a quarter of a meter, finishing at 4.0 meters overall and netting 10 points for Maine. She beat out Northeastern’s Jacilyn Briggs to take first place.
Second-year Rachel Bergeron and third-year Ashley Donohoe represented Maine in the women’s weight throw. Bergeron’s throw was 14.86 meters and landed her in 16th place, and Donohoe threw 14.09 meters and landed in 21st overall.
The men took eighth place with 44 points, enough to push past Army West Point, Central Connecticut, Holy Cross, Harvard, Bryant and Hartford.
Fourth-year Jake Leithiser finished first in the 500-meter run, earning 10 points for the team and finishing an incredible .007 seconds ahead of New Hampshire’s Christopher Poggi for a time of 1:04.47. Fourth-year Michael Lucas also ran the 500-meter for Maine and finished in 13th with a time of 1:07.38.
In the 3000-meter run, third-year Jesse Orach finished third overall for Maine in 8:35.50. His finish brought in six points for the men’s team.
The 4×400-meter relay team put in a fantastic performance, finishing first overall with a total time of 3:21.54. First-year Tucker Corbett ran the first leg, with Leithiser running second, Lucas running third and fourth-year Tyler Martin finishing as anchor. They faced down tight competition from Brown and Northeastern, who both finished less than half a second after Maine.
Maine’s distance medley team also put in a strong showing. First-year Simon Powhida led, followed by second-year Elijah Fossas, third-year Jacob Johns and anchored by second-year Isaac Yeboah. The team finished in 10:29.88, which put them in fourth and earned the team five points.
Maine’s two entrants in the high jump made an impact, with third-year Assad Hicks finishing second at 2.03 meters, and Martin placing fourth at 1.98 meters. They earned a total of 13 points for the Black Bears.
It was a strong performance by both sides. Next week, the Black Bears will participate in the Terrier Classic at Boston University.
