Stonehill Places Eighth At New England Championships


Junior Sarah Wilson posted her second career All-New England performance today, as she placed third in the 800-meter run with a school record time of 2:12.23.

Skyhawks earn highest finish in program history behind nine All-New England performances

BOSTON, Mass. (March 1, 2014) – The Northeast-10 Champion Stonehill College women's track & field team, ranked second in this week's U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association East Regional Computer Rankings, turned in an eighth-place finish this weekend at the 2014 New England Intercollegiate Amateur Athletic Association (NEICAAA) Indoor Track & Field Championships, hosted by Boston University at the BU Track & Tennis Center.

Stonehill earned its program-best finish with a total of 36 points over the course of the two day event. The Skyhawks posted nine All-New England performances, including one event win. Northeastern University claimed first place with 115 points, while the University of Rhode Island placed second with 101 points. Stonehill recorded the second-most points among Division II programs, behind only NE-10 rival Southern Connecticut State University. Yesterday, Stonehill's 4000-meter distance medley relay won its first New England Championship by posting a school-record time of 11:41.79. The Skyhawks earned ten points from that event win, while also collecting five points from senior Chelsea Bishop's (Suffield, Conn./Suffield) fourth-place finish in the 5000-meter run and two points from classmate Emily Regan's (Hanson, Mass./Whitman-Hanson) seventh-place effort in the same event.

Stonehill added five points in the 400-meter dash after junior Maria Curit (Biddeford, Maine/Biddeford) and sophomore Jordan Gray (Warwick, R.I./Toll Gate) each posted All-New England efforts with their fifth and eighth-place finishes, respectively. Curit turned in a school-record time of 55.35 seconds after qualifying yesterday with a time of 56.25 seconds, while Gray finished in 56.12 seconds, improving on yesterday's qualifying time of 56.66 seconds.

Junior Sarah Wilson (West Suffield, Conn./Suffield) finished third in the 800-meter run, eclipsing her own school record with a time of 2:12.23 after posting the fourth-fastest qualifying time yesterday in 2:15.31. Wilson's second career All-New England performance earned six points for the Skyhawks.


Senior Elizabeth LaRegina earned All-New England honors today with her seventh-place finish in the 1-mile run.

Senior Elizabeth LaRegina (New Fairfield, Conn./New Fairfield) also earned All-New England honors by placing seventh in the 1-mile run with a time of 4:56.49, while junior Brianna Venturo (Taunton, Mass./Coyle Cassidy) finished 19th in 5:07.24.

Stonehill's 4x400 and 4x800 meter relay teams each registered All-New England efforts with their sixth-place finishes, adding three points apiece towards the team score. The 4x400 meter relay of Curit, Gray, senior Katie Polakowski (Essex Junction, Vt./Essex) and sophomore Leanne Kent (North Andover, Mass./Central Catholic) recorded a time of 3:52.01, while the 4x800 meter relay of LaRegina, Venturo, Wilson and junior Emily Anderson (Manchester, Conn./Manchester) finished in 9:09.11. The 4x800 relay broke the previous school record of 9:16.59, which was set a year ago at the New England Championships.

Anderson led off the 4x800 with a 2:17.8 split in the opening leg, before giving way to LaRegina, who turned in a time of 2:15.2, followed by Venturo in 2:20.4, and Wilson ran the anchor leg in 2:14.4. In the 4x400, Polakowski ran the lead leg in 59.7 seconds, Curit followed with a 56.4 split, Kent turned in a time of 59.5 seconds, and Gray finished the anchor leg in 56.3 seconds.

Sophomore Jeana Esernio (Stony Brook, N.Y./Ward Melville) and Polakowski posted the 11th and 14th fastest times in the 60-meter hurdles semifinals, respectively, but failed to qualify for the finals. Esernio registered a time of 9.17 seconds, while Polakowski finished in 9.24 seconds.

Senior Angelina Comei (Bradford, Mass./Haverhill) placed 21st in the triple jump with a distance of 35 feet, 4.50 inches, while sophomore Trisha Pierson (East Hanover, N.J./Hanover Park) finished 23rd in the shot put with a throw of 35 feet, 10 inches.

Stonehill will be off next weekend before returning to action on March 14th and 15th at the NCAA Division II Indoor Track & Field Championships, held at the JDL Fast Track in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

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