After sitting out the indoor season due to injury, graduate student middle-distance runner Jesse Garn earned a first-place finish in the 800-meter at Saturday’s Larry Ellis Invitational, hosted by Princeton. In just his second meet since returning to the track, Garn’s time of 1:47.11 was just off the program record of 1:46.97 he set last year and the eighth fastest time recorded in the East Region this season.
“It was great to see Jesse get back to where he should be at,” said BU head coach Mike Thompson.
Leading the women at Princeton was junior Alana MacDonald, who broke her own school record in the 800-meter, besting last week’s personal record of 2:13.04 with a time of 2:11.74. Senior Alexis Hatcher also ran under the school record in the same race (2:12.95).
There was no team scoring at the Princeton meet. At the Bucknell Team Challenge, where the remainder of the Bearcats competed, the women tied for sixth while the men finished seventh, both out of eight teams.
Garn’s and MacDonald’s performances highlighted BU’s trip to Princeton, where only its top distance runners competed.
“I think the distance runners as a whole ran great,” Thompson said. “That was a fantastic performance from almost everyone.”
Senior Kierra Arthur was the Bearcats’ top finisher at Bucknell, placing second in the 100-meter hurdles (14.51). Arthur placed fourth in this event at last year’s America East (AE) Outdoor Championships. Junior Aziza Hawthorne finished fourth in the 200-meter (25.35), which stood out to Thompson.
“I thought Aziza Hawthorne had the best performance relative to where everyone should be at,” Thompson said.
In the field events, senior Tori Shaffer (5-5) and junior Jackie Crunden (5-3) finished third and fourth respectively in the high jump, while junior Sarah Haley finished fifth in the pole vault (12-3).
Junior Jon Alkins was the top men’s finisher at the Bucknell meet, running a 21.59 in the 200-meter to take third place. Senior Jade Marhaba finished fourth in the 3,000-meter steeplechase with a time of 10:11.01
“They did pretty well but I think they’ll look better in the coming meets,” Thompson said of the teams’ performances.
With the AE Championships now just two weeks away, Thompson said he’s looking for the team to improve even more.
“Hopefully they’ll step up a little bit,” he said. “So they’re on an upward trend for the conference meet.”
The Bearcats are set to return to action at the Penn Relays in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from April 28 to 30. Selected athletes will also compete on Sunday at the Big Red Invitational, hosted by Cornell in Ithaca, New York. Start times for both meets have yet to be announced.