CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – On Sunday, the Suffolk indoor track & field teams took its talents across town to Harvard University for the 2019 USATF New England Indoor Championships. At the event Mariama Kamara and Emily Manfra each punched their ticket to the 2019 NCAA Division III New England Indoor Regional Championships.
Kamara clinched her spot at regionals in the 60-meter dash. The junior from Chelsea, Massachusetts, earned her place in the finals after running an 8.07 preliminary. In the finals, Kamara put together a huge personal-best time of 8.03 to finish seventh overall. Dakhensey Marcellus was also featured in the 29-runner field along with Kamara. Marcellus finished the spring in 8.71.
Manfra, meanwhile, earned her spot in her second event after an eventful outing in the 3000-meter run. Despite facing multiple obstacles on the course, including falling in the third lap, losing her shoe two laps later, and running the final mile with just one shoe, she finished the race in 10:08.34. The time not only qualified the junior from Stoneham, Massachusetts, for regionals, but put her in third place overall behind only a pair of runners from Harvard.
A Suffolk contingent was present in the 400-meter dash and the mile. Megan Qualters (1:07.24) and Julianna Trost (1:10.83) competed in the 400-meter dash, while Olivia Chilcott (5:42.33), Natalie Fay (6:15.91) and Skyler Spanbauer (6:28.71) participated in the mile.
Julia Hunt competed in both track & field events in the 60-meter hurdles and the long jump, respectively. She finished the hurdles in 10.58 and jumped 3.87 meters in her first time competing in the event.
A pair of Rams tried their hands in the shot put in Allison Rodrigues (11.40 M) and Savannah Hunter (9.30 M). Lindsey O'Dea rounded out the Rams' women in the high jump.
On the men's side, Suffolk's blue-and-gold was well-represented in the mile with six Rams' runners in Roth Santos (4:39.48), Hunter Toyoda (4:47.85), Arthur Lacerda (5:17.97), Nick Malm (4:55.32), Keoni Geers (4:55.80) and Kevin Torres (4:58.55). There was also a trio of Suffolk student-athletes in the 400-meter dash; Robert Solari (53.16), Justin Patten (56.59) and Nicholas Nunez (58.18). Nunez also competed in the 200-meter dash, which he finished in 25.38.
Jonah Flores rounded out the men's runners in the 800-meter dash with a time of 2:10.07.
Solari was also a two-event also as the freshman participated in the high jump.
Michael Power competed in the shot put and weight throw, respectively, and was joined in the latter by Michael Balestra.