MIDDLETOWN, Conn. - Sprinter Bernice Boateng (Danielson, Conn.) qualified for this month's DIII New England Indoor Championships, and Daniel LaFlamme (Watertown, Conn.) and Jovan Sematimba (Burlington, Mass.) broke their own school records in the weight throw and 3,000 meter run, respectively, to pace the Regis (Mass.) track and field teams at the Wesleyan Indoor Invitational on Saturday.
Boateng's New England qualifier performance was the highlight of the meet on the women's side as she placed third in the 60-meter dash with a personal best time of 8.11 seconds. The 400-meter dash also featured several strong performances by a trio of Pride sprinters. Abby Flaherty (Millbury, Mass.) finished 14th with a time of 1:03.74, Nyah Webb (Boston, Mass.) placed 28th with a new personal best time of 1:08.24 and Abbie Cooke (Abington, Mass.) posted a time of 1:13.57.
ChiChi Akanegbu (North Easton, Mass.) delivered a pair of top 5 throws performances. In the shot put, she finished fifth with a throw of 11.91 meters and fourth (13.70 meters) in the weight throw. Liz Ksepka (Calais, Vt.), Elisabeth Cooke (East Longmeadow, Mass.) and Elliana Boebel (Bedford, Mass.) also competed in both events with Ksepka and Cooke landing a pair of top 20 scores.
On the men's side, LaFlamme finished fourth (14.40) in the weight to break his own school record and Sematimba did the same with his 20th overall (9:30.07) finish in the 3,000 meter which also featured personal best times by Kyle Gillen-Hughes (9:42.17) and Sean Toomey (9:56.01). Also with a PR was JJ Pedersen's mile heat time of 4:48.77. The time was a 12 second drop from his previous personal best and placed him 11th overall.
Taylor Garner (Richmond, Vt.) finished 14th (13.09) in the weight throw and 29th in the shot put with Frank Pelleteri (Freeport, Maine) placing seventh in the shot with a long throw of 13.09. LaFlamme added a ninth-place finish in the shot put with a throw of 12.89 meters. Cole Anderson finished 17th with a throw of 11.71 meters.
Next up for the Pride are the Division III New England USATF Indoor Championships held Saturday, Feb. 18 and hosted by Harvard University.
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