It wasn’t her best performance of the season, but it was still good enough for 10th place at the NCAA Championships. LIU Brooklyn’s Jessie Gaines, a four-time NEC Indoor MVP, put a close to her marvelous collegiate indoor career this past weekend in Boise.
Gaines, who triple jumped 12.64m at the national title meet, was one of three Northeast Conference student-athletes to qualify for the uber-selective NCAA Championship field.
Four-time NEC Indoor Women’s MVP Jessie Gaines (above)
photo courest LIU Brooklyn Atheltics Communications
Sacred Heart hurdler, and NEC record holder, Bertony-Jean Louis and Central Connecticut sprinter Aaron Radden represented the NEC on the men’s side.
Gaines came up 50 centimeters shy of the season-best triple jump mark (13.14m) she turned in a the New Balance Collegiate Invitational back in February, but her NCAA Championship performance still topped six other entrants, including UVA’s Whitney Rose and Georgia’s Colleen Felix, at the national competition.
After torching the competition on the way to a first-place finish at the IC4A Championships where he clocked in a 7.76s, Jean-Louis contested the NCAA field in the 60m hurdles and came up shy of the final. His preliminary round time (7.84) ranked him 12th out of 15th entrants. The veteran Pioneer finished ahead of Ohio State’s Demoye Bogle, Cincinnati’s Terrence Somerville, and Middle Tennessee’s Roscoe Payne.
Radden, the NEC’s three-time 200m champ, ran 20.96 to take second place at the IC4as, but was unable to repeat the feat in Boise. The third-year Blue Devil, and two-time NEC Indoor Most Outstanding Track Performer, clocked in at 21.06. The preliminary time was 10th overall at the national title meet. He finished third out of four in his heat, besting La Tech’s Trey Hadnot.
Official Results from 2012 NCAA Indoor Championships (courtesy of NCAA.com)
Men’s…
Women’s…
The NEC finalized and released the 2012 Indoor Track & Field All-Conference Teams, and by no surprise, Gaines, Radden, and Jean-Louis were all amongst the honorees. Take a look at the official list below.
2012 All-NEC ITF Honors
– Mar. 12, 2012 –
NEC Overtime! Blog 