Freshman etches name into Stonehill record book twice at Boston University

Maria Curit

EASTON, Mass. (February 13, 2012) – Stonehill College freshman Maria Curit (Biddeford, Maine/Biddeford) has been named the Women's Track Athlete and Rookie of the Week by the Northeast-10 Conference (NE-10), it was announced earlier today.

Curit broke an eight-year-old program record and provisionally qualified for the NCAA Championships in the 400 meters with a time of 57.46 on Friday night at the Boston University (BU) Valentine Invitational. Curit was also a member of Stonehill's distance medley relay team that established a new school record and provisionally qualified for the NCAA's in 12:03.47 on day two of the BU Valentine Invitational on Saturday afternoon.

Curit's mark of 57.46 in the 400 meters broke Jackie Burbank's time of 59.03 set at Boston University on February 14, 2004. Curit, who currently ranks third overall in the NE-10 in the 400 meter run, is the first female-student athlete for Stonehill's indoor track and field team to provisionally qualify for the NCAA National Championships since Dana DeIngenis (Cranston, R.I.) placed fifth overall at the 2007 New England Championships with a time of 4:58.35 in the one mile run.

In the 4,000-meter distance medley relay, Curit teamed up with senior Jill Alves (Whitman, Mass./Whitman-Hanson), freshman Sarah Wilson (West Suffield, Conn./Suffield) and senior Maura Ferrarini (Springfield, Mass./Cathedral) to shatter the previous record of 12:17.17, set at the New England Championships on February 25, 2011 by Kristen Veit (Easthampton, Mass./Holyoke Catholic), Susan O'Connell (East Greenwich, R.I./East Greenwich), Lindsey Booth (Franklin, Mass./Franklin) and Ferrarini.

Alves opened with a 3:42 split in the 1,200-meter leg, followed by Curit with a time of 59.0 seconds in the 400-meter second leg, a 2:15 split from Wilson in the 800-meter third leg and a 5:06 split in the 1,600-meter anchor leg by Ferrarini. Stonehill's total time of 12:03.47 currently ranks first overall in the NE10, more than 13 seconds faster than second place, and 16th nationally among all NCAA Division II competing schools.

Curit collects her first-career Track Athlete of the Week award and third-career Rookie of the Week award (12/6, 1/23). Curit has also earned one Field Rookie of the Week award (1/23).

Stonehill returns to action on Saturday, February 18 at the NE-10 Championships in Boston, Mass. at the Reggie Lewis Track & Athletic Center at 4 p.m.

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