Five Skyhawks post season bests on day one

Jill Alves was tops in the mile for the Skyhawks. (PHOTO BY Richard Orr)

BOSTON, Mass. (February 11, 2011) – Stonehill College, ranked fourth in this week’s U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Division II East Regional index, returned to competition this afternoon at the Boston University Valentine Invitational, hosted at the BU Track & Tennis Center. Five runners turned in season-best performances across three events for the Skyhawks.

Junior Jill Alves (Whitman, Mass./Whitman-Hanson) led four Skyhawks in the mile run, placing 55th in 5:09.73, and junior Maura Ferrarini (Springfield, Mass./Cathedral) took four seconds off her winning mile time at last week’s Tufts Stampede to place 59th in an even 5:12. Senior Amanda Tripodi (Darien, Conn./Darien) finished 70th in 5:14.61, as all three ran their fastest mile time of the season. Sophomore Kristen Veit (Easthampton, Mass./Holyoke Catholic) took 85th in the field of 147 with a time of 5:20.09.

Susan O'Connell put up Stonehill's highest track finish of the day. (PHOTO BY Richard Orr)

Stonehill also posted a pair of top-25 finishes in the 500m dash as juniors Susan O’Connell (East Greenwich, R.I./East Greenwich) and Christen Carrier (Manchester, N.H./Manchester Central) placed close together in a tightly packed field. O’Connell took 21st overall in 1:19.11, and Carrier finished 24th less than a second behind her in 1:19.74, her fastest time of the season in the event.

Senior Lindsey Booth (Franklin, Mass./Franklin) rounded out the Skyhawks’ season-best track performances with a 58th-place finish (of 139 runners) in the 800m run with a time of 2:20.50.

In the field events, sophomore Olivia Dyson (Reading, Mass./Reading) cleared a season-high-matching five feet, 2.25 inches in the high jump for the second week in a row as she placed 14th overall in the event. Junior Vlada Shelkova (Newington, Conn./Newington) finished 24th in the long jump at 15 feet, seven inches.

The distance medley relay will be the lone women’s event held during day two of competition tomorrow, and is scheduled to begin at the Track & Tennis Center at 10:45 a.m.