Though the team competition for men's track has ended for the year, the postseason continues this weekend for a few athletes. The Open New England at Northeastern University is all about individual performances: bettering personal records and qualifying for nationals.
Five athletes will compete in the meet this weekend: seniors Thompson Ogilvie, Colman Hatton, Kyle Hebert and Nate Bingham, and sophomore Riker Wikoff.
Bingham, who is competing in the hammer throw said, "The Open New England meet has a high level of competition, so it is a good weekend to get a great mark, [and] my goal is to get a provisional qualifying mark for nationals this weekend."
His co-captain, Ogilvie, who will run the 1,500, agreed.
"I would like to hit a personal best in the 1,500," he said. "It is a really fun race and I look forward to really burning one this weekend at Northeastern."
There were quite a few runners who "burnt it" last weekend at Division III New England. The team placed fifth among the 25 teams present led by the seniors, who, according to Coach Slovenski, "gave us great leadership in their last team championship. They scored over half our points."
Hebert made a big impact, placing fourth in the 200-meter and first in the 400-meter with a personal record of 48.37 seconds, due to a new strategy Coach Slovenski told him to try.
"I usually start my 400's off pretty comfortably," Hebert said, "but our plan for last Saturday was for me to take it out fast from the beginning. Instead of pacing myself off of others in the race, I broke out and made the race mine."
In the 5,000-meter Ogilvie took it out hard, and finished strong, holding off the pack for a second place finish in 15:03. Among the other notable performances were the 400-meter hurdlers, Wikoff and Sam Chick '13.
"The 400 hurdlers have been amazing all season," Slovenski said. "They came through for the team again on Saturday with great races."
Wikoff and Chick placed fifth and sixth, respectively.
Perhaps the most exciting races of the day, however, were the relays. Before the 4x400-meter and 4x800-meter the team was in eighth place, but the results of those two events brought the team into a tie for fifth.
In the 4x800-meter, the team placed third with a time of 7:45, meaning each runner averaged under 1:57 per 800-meter.
Matt Hillard '12, who ran the second leg in 1:54, said, "We went into the race knowing that we had a good shot to place and run a fast time because we were all fresh. Colin Fong did a great job in the first leg, putting us right with the leaders. I was able to get the baton in second place and hand off with the lead. Tim did a good job maintaining our position and Brett just got caught at the end, putting us in third."
The 4x400-meter placed second, in a time of 3:20, averaging 50 seconds per 400 meters. Anchor leg Kyle Hebert passed the Amherst runner in the final straight-away, bringing the team into a fifth place tie with them, but he does not take all the credit for himself
"Our freshman and sophomore ran like seasoned veterans," he said. "They did a favor for me, actually, giving me the baton behind one of the athletes that beat me in the open 400 a week earlier, providing me with the opportunity to beat him when he had a head start."