BOSTON – Suffolk men's indoor track & field wrapped up the 2021 portion of its schedule at Northeastern's Joe Donahue Games Saturday at the Reggie Lewis Center. A dozen Rams made debuts in various events with nearly a half dozen notching a personal-record.
Suffolk stuck to sprinting events when it came to runners. In the straight 60-meter dash the trio of Turner Mitchell, Jason Motta and Boston Baxter represented the blue-and-gold. Mitchell's 7.57 led the Rams' threesome in 11th, while Motta (7.57) and Baxter (7.74) clocked career-highs in the event for 13th and 16th, respectively.
Jack Cattie leaped over hurdles in the 60-meter sprint for the first time in his career and did so in 10.81.
Eight Rams were a part of the 23-runner 200 field with five participating in the event for the first time. Cole Bolduc ran a half lap for the first time in his collegiate career and paved the way for the Rams with a 23.87 to finish in the top 10 in ninth. Selvin Backert (24.98), Turner Mitchell (25.45), Hans Deguzman (26.82) and Eduardo Silva (40.89) participated in the event for the first time as well. Motta, meanwhile, logged a career-high 25.41, while Joshua Smith (25.18) and John Avakian (25.42) were featured in the field as well.
All five Rams in the 400 were first-time participants. Backert ran a full lap in 53.74 to take third in the 12-runner field. Kely Maloney was two spots behind thanks to a 55.25. Justin Turner (56.34), Arthur Lacerda (56.34) and Evan Wright (56.80) were one after another in spots eight through 10.
Robert Solari tried his hand in the high jump for the first time since the 2020 Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Championships. He cleared 1.70 meters.
The senior captained also anchored the three-Ram contingent in the long jump with a. 5.72-meter leap to take seven. Turner Mitchell (5.02), who competed in the event for the first time, and Baxter (4.78) were right behind Solari in eighth and ninth, respectively.
Suffokl saw three student-athletes in the shot put. Eddie McCarthy stood out with a third-place performance behind a 11.64-meter toss. Michael Power and Matthew Smith took spots in the top five as well. Power put together a 10.39-meter lob to clinch fourth with Smith's career-high mark of 8.94 meters good for fifth.
In the weight throw Suffolk sealed up second through fifth behind Northeastern's Tremain Robinson. Michael Balestra's season-high 14.58-meter throw was the best of the Rams and second in the field. Matthew Smith assembled a career-high of 11.59 with Frank Irizarry (11.15) and Michael Power (9.88) each registering career-bests Saturday.
Suffolk has nearly a month away from competition with finals and holidays breaking up the action. The Rams will return to its contest calendar Saturday, Jan. 22 at Plymouth State's Panther Invitational.