Stonehill Finishes Second At NE-10 Championships

Jill Alves won the 1,000 meter run for
the second time in her career.

Alves, Curit capture individual titles; Skyhawks earn All-Conference honors in ten events

BOSTON, Mass. (February 18, 2012) – The Stonehill College women's indoor track and field team placed second overall at the Northeast-10 Conference (NE-10) Women's Indoor Track & Field Championships, hosted by the Reggie Lewis Track & Athletic Center, on Saturday night.

The Skyhawks compiled 138 points to finish second overall behind the University of Massachusetts Lowell (171 points). Southern Connecticut State University placed third overall (106) while American International finished fourth (97.5) and the University of New Haven rounded out the top-five (89.5).

Stonehill earned All-Conference honors in ten events, set seven school records, established two conference championship records, had one NCAA provisional qualifying performance and six New England Championship qualifying performances.

Senior Jill Alves (Whitman, Mass./Whitman-Hanson) successfully defended her individual title in the 1,000 meter run while freshman Maria Curit (Biddeford, Maine/Biddeford) claimed her first individual victory in the long jump to pace Stonehill.

Alves won the 1,000 meter run with a time of 3:00.96 less than a second ahead of Briana Devereaux from Merrimack College (3:01.94) to claim her second-career conference championship. Alves also ran the lead leg of the 4x800 meter relay which placed first overall and established a new conference championship record. Alves teamed up with freshman Erin Rielly (Burlington, Mass./Burlington), Elizabeth LaRegina (New Fairfield, Conn./New Fairfield) and freshman Sarah Wilson (West Suffield, Conn./Suffield) to break Southern Connecticut State's record from a year ago (9:45.71) with a time of 9:29.08. Alves ran a 2:22 split while Rielly posted a 2:22 split, LaRegina ran the third leg in 2:25 and Wilson anchored the relay in 2:19.

Curit shattered her own record in the long jump with a leap of 17-feet and 9.75-inches for her first individual title. Curit's previous mark was set on January 27 at the same facility (17'6.25"). Curit also finished second in the 400 meter run with a time of 58.00 seconds to pick up her second All-Conference honors, individually.

Wilson provisionally qualified and established a new school record in the 800 meter run with a time of 2:15.48, second place overall. Wilson broke Dana DeIngenis' mark of 2:16.65 set on February 25, 2006 at the New England Championships.

Senior Christen Carrier (Manchester, N.H./Manchester Central) finished second overall in the 500 meter run with a time of 1:17.40 trimming down the previous school record of 1:17.43 set by Jackie Burbank on February 22, 2002 at the New England Championships. Carrier's new school record also qualified her for the New England Championships.

Christen Carrier set a new school record
in the 500 meter run on Saturday.

In the 4x400 meter relay, Carrier teamed up with Curit, freshman Lauren Hanlon (Georgetown, Mass./Georgetown) and sophomore Katie Polakowski (Essex Junction, Vt./Essex) to narrowly set a new school record in the event. The relay team finished second overall in the event with a time of 4:01.91 breaking the mark of 4:01.97 set on February 18, 2010 by Susan O'Connell, Danielle Wheeler, Kathryn O'Leary and Carrier at the conference championships. Curit ran the lead leg in 59.1 seconds, Hanlon posted a split of 61.4 seconds in the second leg, Polakowski ran a time of 61.8 seconds as the third leg and Carrier finished the relay with a split of 59.5 seconds.

Senior Maura Ferrarini (Springfield, Mass./Cathedral) placed second overall in the one mile run in 5:04.60 to earn All-Conference honors. Junior Kristen Veit (Easthampton, Mass./Holyoke Catholic) finished fifth overall in 5:12.54 and freshman Brianna Venturo (Taunton, Mass./Coyle & Cassidy) placed seventh overall in 5:13.24.

The trio of milers also teamed up with sophomore Melissa Ulcena (Billerica, Mass./Billerica) in the distance medley relay to establish a new conference championship record. Ferrarini ran the 1,200-meter lead leg in 3:45, Ulcena posted a time of 62.9 seconds in the 400-meter second leg, Brianna Venturo ran the 800-meter third leg in 2:25 and Veit ran the 1,600-meter anchor leg in 5:19 for a total time of 12:32.73. The Skyhawks shattered the previous mark of 12:42.63 set by Southern Connecticut State in last year's NE-10 championship meet.

Other Stonehill Highlights Include:

In the 3,000 meter run, junior Caroline McBride (North Reading, Mass./North Reading) placed second with a time of 10:30.40. Senior Kristen Mahoney (Weymouth, Mass./Weymouth) followed closely behind in 10:34.19 for third place while freshman Emily Anderson (Manchester, Conn./Manchester) crossed the finish line in 10:46.44 for sixth place overall.

Junior Katie Bernazzani (Norwood, Mass./Norwood) broke her own school record in the 55 meter hurdles with a third place finish in a time of 8.48. Bernazzani, whose previous record was set on February 26, 2010 at the New England Championships in 8.56, qualified for the finals of the event with an 8.62 mark in the preliminaries. Polakowski finished sixth overall in 8.64. Polakowski notched a time of 8.68 in the prelims to advance to the finals.

Sophomore Chelsea Bishop (Suffield, Conn./Suffield) and freshman Brittany Venturo (Taunton, Mass./Coyle & Cassidy) posted scoring performances in the 5,000 meter run as Bishop finished fifth overall in 18:36.11 and Brittany Venturo placed sixth in 18:36.98.

Sophomore Meaghan Olin (Goshen, N.Y./Goshen) tied her school record in the pole vault by clearing 9-feet and 6.25 inches, fourth place overall.

Sophomore Angelina Comei (Bradford, Mass./Haverhill) shattered the triple jump record with a leap of 35-feet and 6.75-inches earning fifth place overall in the event. Comei broke Vlada Shelkova's (Newington, Conn./Newington) record of 35-feet and 2.5-inches set on February 21, 2009 at Southern Connecticut State.

Stonehill returns to action on Friday, February 24 on day one of the New England Championships, hosted by Boston University at the BU Track & Tennis Center in Boston, Mass., at 11:00 a.m.

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