Photo courtesy of Frank Poulin
ROXBURY, Mass. - The Regis (Mass.) men's and women's track & field teams kicked off their season with a strong start at the UMass Boston Indoor Open at the Reggie Lewis Center on Saturday. The Pride saw several school records fall while multiple athletes achieved qualifying marks for the DIII New England Championships.
Freshman Bernice Boateng (Dayville, Conn.) kicked things off for the Pride with a school record in the 60m dash in her first collegiate race with a time of 8.32.
In the 60m hurdles, sophomores Keegan Duguay (Watertown, Mass.) and Matthew Malone (West Roxbury, Mass.) each qualified for the DIII New England Championships with their performances. Duguay finished eighth overall with a time of 9.73 and Malone placed third with a time of 8.77.
On the oval, senior Matt Norton (Weymouth, Mass.) broke his own school record in the 1000m. The captain crossed the line in 2:46 and finished in 10th place overall. In the same event on the women's side, junior Sarah Backholm (Sutton, Mass.) placed 8th overall with a time of 3:37.
In the field events, freshman ChiChi Akanegbu (North Easton, Mass.) set the school record in the shot put with a toss of 10.90m, which earned her a seventh place finish. In the weight throw, junior captain Kate Cowden (Wilmington, Mass.) set a new school record with a throw of 12.20m, placing eighth overall.
Sophomore Fred Mathieu (Miama, Fla.) and Boateng both had strong showings in the 200m with times of 23.95 and 28.42, respectively.
"This was a good start to the season, but there are still a lot of things we need to work on and improve on moving forward," said head coach Kourtney Bonsey. "Fortunately, it's only Dec. 3, so we have time to get better from here. It's always great to see school records fall and have athletes qualify for the post season in the first meet, and I'm confident we will see more of that as the year unfolds. This is a team that will get better."
The Pride will not compete again until after the new year when they return to action at the Reggie Poyau Invitational hosted by Brandeis University on Jan. 14.
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