Track and field in form again at New England Championships

Over this past weekend the Rhode Island men’s and women’s track teams had athletes take part in the New England Championships, which were held at Boston University.

The event saw the men’s team win the New England Championships, leading for both days while the women were able to take home second place.  

In addition to the team accolades, there were also some record-breaking performances from some individuals who were integral to their squads’ success. The school records were set by men’s senior Mike DiMambro in the heptathlon, who also set a New England record, and by the women’s freshman Nichole Barger, who broke a longstanding 36-year school record in the one mile.

“DiMambro really lit the place up,” men’s head coach John Copeland said. “He set a New England record and a URI record. He did a really nice job.”

Digging further into the men’s team performance, there a number of notable times and scores put forth, with four individual event winners and five top three finishers on the final day.

Aside from DiMambro’s win in the heptathlon, Rhody also had senior Sam Snyder win the shot put title, sophomore Marlon Montague win the 500-meter race and sophomore Nigel Hill prevail in the 200-meter dash.

“I was very pleased with our performance,” Coach Copeland said. “The New England’s is a really good test of not only individuals, but teams as well.”

One of the strongest overall events for Rhode Island was the 400-meter dash which had three runners finish in the top seven. The top Ram was senior Kebba Nasso, who was able to place second, followed by junior Jared Gray and sophomore Adam Franklin in sixth and seventh, respectively.

On the women’s side the story of the day, along with the record-breaking performance of Barger, was the run by Dyshelle Pemberton. She won the 500-meter race, and was also part of the second-place four by 400-meter relay team.

“It was another meet filled with personal bests “ women’s assistant coach John Melnick said. “The school records are the highlights and Dyshelle had her first individual title in the Atlantic 10 and that was great.”

The other members of the relay team were seniors Keiko Hector and Mariah Claudio, as well as freshman Mikaila Amerantes.

Another performance of note was Hector’s, as she not only was part of the aforementioned four by 400-meter relay team, but also took home bronze in the high jump.

Both teams compete this coming weekend, with the men, winners of their last five meets, competing in the IC4A Championships, and the women heading into the ECAC Championships where they will be looking to taste victory after back-to-back second place finishes.