Brena Hits NCAA Auto Mark in High Jump for Women’s Track & Field at Northeastern
BOSTON (December 14, 2019) -- In just the second week of her sophomore season, sophomore Paola Brena (Queretaro, Mexico) of the Franklin Pierce University women's track & field team has booked her third career NCAA Championship appearance. She hit the NCAA automatic qualifying mark on the way to a first-place finish in the high jump, to lead the way for the Ravens on Saturday at the Joe Donahue Games, hosted by Northeastern.
NCAA automatic qualifying marks are a rare breed, and a feat accomplished by only a handful of individuals in the country each season. As the name suggests, meeting such a mark gains an athlete an automatic berth in the NCAA Championship. Brena, who captured All-America honors in the outdoor season a year ago, will represent the Ravens at the NCAA Championships on March 13-14 in Birmingham, Ala. It was the fourth automatic qualifying mark reached in the history of the women's program, and the fifth overall in the eight-year history of Franklin Pierce's track & field programs.
Brena got up and over 1.75 meters to hit the automatic qualifier mark. In doing so, she established a new program record and won the event.
In the sprints, freshman Destini Hill-Edwards (Paget, Bermuda) ran a time of 26.76 seconds in the 200-meter dash, which landed her an 11th-place finish. She also added a 13th-place finish in the 60-meter dash, with a time of 8.10 seconds. In the 500 meters, freshman Nyjah Young-Bey (Montclair, N.J.) took first place after her 1:17 run, which established a new program record.
In the shot put, freshman Julieth Nwosu (Brockton, Mass.) continued her strong start with a second-place finish after a 13.0-meter throw. She was accompanied in the top five by senior Katey Comstock (Windsor, Vt.), whose 12.03-meter throw landed her in fifth. Sophomore Samantha DeSouza (Sebago, Maine) placed 10th after her 10.72-meter throw, while a 10.3-meter throw meant 11th place for freshman Becca Olsen (Newton, N.H.), as the Ravens had four competitors in the event.
In the 800 meters, sophomore Alana Thompson (Westampton, N.J.) placed third for her 2:24 finishing time. Sophomore Alena Masterson (Pelham, N.H.) took 14th after running a time of 2:37. Junior Marissa Farago (Salisbury, Mass.) placed eighth in the 3k, after racing to a time of 11:00. She was followed by senior Julia Cormier (Northwood, N.H.), who ran an 11:08 to take 10th.
The Ravens will break for the semester and are slated to be back in action on Saturday, Jan. 11, for the Middlebury Winter Classic in Middlebury, Vt.
For more information on Franklin Pierce Athletics, please visit the official website of Franklin Pierce Athletics (https://www.fpuravens.com). Also be sure to follow the Ravens through the Department of Athletics' official Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/FranklinPierceRavens), its YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/franklinpiercesports) and its Twitter feed (http://twitter.com/FPUathletics). Fans wishing to purchase Franklin Pierce track & field apparel can do so at the Department of Athletics' brand new online store (https://www.shopfpuravens.com).