Akello’s 500-800 double at the NYC Gotham Cup resulted in the first-year Blackbird becoming the Northeast Conference leader in two events. One week after she posted the NEC’s top 500-meter time at the Metro Coaches Invitational (Jan. 8), Akello widened her lead in the event by clocking in nearly two seconds faster at the NYC Gotham Cup. Her time of 1:15.19 easily surpasses the ECAC Championship qualifying standard. Despite standing short of the ECAC mark, Akello’s 800-meter time (2:16.68) is also the best the NEC has seen.