Stevens, Men's 4x400 Find Success At Prep Meets Before AE Indoors

2/12/2023 2:05:00 AM

NEWARK, N.J. — With the America East Indoor Championships a week away, a select number of NJIT track and field athletes competed at meets this weekend to add to their preparations for the conference meet.

Sophomore Maddie Stevens, a transfer from Upper Iowa who has already found places on the NJIT record board in the 300 meters and 4x400 relay, needed to secure a qualifying time in the 400 meters before conference after an injury absence and a controversial disqualification at last weekend's Rutgers Scarlet Knights Open left her without a mark.

Stevens raced in the 400 at the Fastrack National Invitational at Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex in New York on Friday - the same track where she set the school mark in the 300 in her NJIT debut (Dec. 9, 2022) - and finished second with a mark of 56.85. The time - which sits .07 seconds off of former Highlander Elisabeth Paulina's 2017 pace of 56.78 - currently places her fourth in the conference, only .19 seconds away from a podium position if the top times held.

On the men's side, the 4x400 relay has been one of the program's strengths this indoor season. Entering this weekend, the Highlanders already had a quartet of Matt Bacchi, Lossenie Fofana, Jordan Lee, and Elisha Bugasch that posted a school record time of 3:17.54 at the UMass Lowell Riverhawk Invitational on Jan. 27 that is second-best in the league.

In a tune-up for conference, the relay group of Bugasch, Bacchi, Lee and Jacob Leigh competed in the College race at the 115th Millrose Games at The Armory in New York and won the event with a time of 3:17.73, besting Manhattan (3:18.33) and Fordham (3:19.54) for the title. The time didn't surpass the best NJIT has posted this year but it would still put the Highlanders in second in the conference, paving the way for an exciting showdown with current leaders UMass Lowell.

NEXT UP
The full Highlander squads - featuring a number of potential America East contenders - will travel to Boston next week (February 18-19) for the Indoor Championships, being held at the state-of-the-art TRACK at New Balance.

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