Track closes out indoors

Though the Boston University men's and women's track and fields teams participated in three different meets this weekend as the indoor season came to a close, it was a relatively quiet weekend for the Terriers as they failed to qualify for nationals.

With the America East Conference Championships already completed, the Terrier men's distance-medley group finished 17th overall, falling short of qualifying for nationals in their meet at South Bend, Ind. on Friday.

The group, made up of seniors Matt Howard and Nick Goodman and juniors David Proctor and Pat Hoye, ran a time of 9:43.21. The men managed to break the school record of 9:45.34 set 10 years ago.

Goodman, who was hampered by an injured ankle, began the medley with the 1200-meter portion, handing off the baton in about three minutes. Howard ran the 400m next, finishing in 47.4 seconds before handing off the baton to Hoye for the 800m. Hoye ran his best race of his season, finishing his leg in 1:53. Proctor, BU's anchor, ran the 1600m in 4:01.

The 400m portion was next, as Howard finished in 47.4 seconds before handing the baton to Hoye for the 800m. Hoye came in at 1:53, his best run of the season. Proctor was the anchor for the Terriers, running the 1600m in 4:01. By the time Proctor had the baton, however, BU's best runner was already 50m behind his competitors.

Proctor had already qualified for nationals in the mile race after finishing with a time of 3:59.14 at the Terrier Invitational in January. That race earned him second place overall in the country, and Proctor will run Friday night in the preliminaries.

"David will be competing against a lot of the same guys he was racing at Notre Dame," Lehane said. "The good thing is that this time they won't have a 50-meter head start."

BU's remaining male athletes played host for the Intercollegiate Association of Amateur Athletes of America Championships on Saturday. Meanwhile, the women traveled to the nearby Reggie Lewis Center to compete in the Eastern College Athletic Conference Championships.

"We really go after the America East meet," said BU men's coach Bruce Lehane. "After that meet we kind of turn down the competition. The bulk of the team downshifts after conferences."

Back home at the Track and Tennis Center, the Terrier men ran few athletes over the weekend. Junior Greg Daggett had the strongest performance for BU, placing 10th in the heptathlon. Freshman Mac-Alen Gerard finished 12th in the triple jump with a distance of 14.06 meters.

Many schools use the final events in the indoor track season as "last-chance" meets to have their best athletes qualify for nationals, as Lehane described them. But the IC4A Championships are not a main focus for the Terriers, Lehane said.

"What makes it a bit awkward," he said, "is that we host the meet but don't really compete in it."

The women's team also only entered a few athletes in the ECAC Championships. The 4x800m team had the best performance of the day for the Terrier women, finishing in 9:14.95. The relay team was made up of seniors Amy Dannwolf and Katherine Robsky, sophomore Katie Weider and freshman Sarah Mosser.

Injuries were the story of the day for the women, as a few of their top athletes went down during warm-ups. Junior Tahari James, normally one of the best Terrier athletes, was hurt while practicing before the event.

"Tahari got injured and wasn't able to compete," said women's coach Robyne Johnson. "The jumpers had an off day on top of that. It wasn't a very eventful day for us."

Outside of David Proctor's upcoming competition for nationals, the men's and women's track and field teams are now finished with their indoor season. Both squads will look to improve their efforts in the upcoming outdoor season.

"I think that the silver lining in a fairly disappointing weekend is that the indoor season is over and now we're moving on to outdoor," Johnson said. "The women won the conference and the men finished well, so the rest was all gravy for us."