Skyhawks DMR wins first New England Championship in school record time of 11:41.79
Anderson |
Curit |
Gray |
LaRegina |
EASTON, Mass. (March 3, 2014) – The Stonehill College women's 4000-meter distance medley relay team has been named the Northeast-10 Conference's Relay of the Week for women's track and field, the league office announced today.
Stonehill's distance medley relay earned its first New England Championship on Friday night, winning the event in a school-record time of 11:41.79 at Boston University's Track & Tennis Center. The team consisted of senior Elizabeth LaRegina (New Fairfield, Conn./New Fairfield), juniors Maria Curit (Biddeford, Maine/Biddeford) and Emily Anderson (Manchester, Conn./Manchester), and sophomore Jordan Gray (Warwick, R.I./Toll Gate). The DMR victory was the only event win of the weekend for the Skyhawks, as Stonehill placed eighth overall with 36 points, its highest finish at the New England Championships in program history.
Anderson led off the relay with a 3:36.4 split in the opening 1200-meter leg, before handing off to Gray, who ran the 400-meter portion in 56.4 seconds, followed by Curit, who completed the 800-meter leg in 2:12.6, and finally LaRegina closed out the school-record effort with a 4:56.8 split in the 1-mile anchor leg. Stonehill improved on its provisional qualifying for the NCAA Championships by just under three seconds. When adjusted for the banked track at BU's Track & Tennis Center, Stonehill's time of 11:49.30 ranks as the fifth-fastest nationally.
This marks the third time this season a Stonehill relay team has been honored by the NE-10. The DMR of LaRegina, Curit, Gray, and junior Sarah Wilson (West Suffield, Conn./Suffield) was recognized on February 3rd after placing first in 11:52.27 at the URI Coaches Tribute Meet, hosted by the University of Rhode Island. The following week, Stonehill's 4x400-meter relay of Curit, Gray, senior Katie Polakowski (Essex Junction, Vt./Essex) and sophomore Leanne Kent (North Andover, Mass./Central Catholic) earned the conference's Relay of the Week award for their seventh-place effort in 3:51.48 at the David Hemery Valentine Invitational, hosted by Boston University.
Curit and Gray have now been honored three times each this season for their efforts with Stonehill's 4x400 and distance medley relays. Gray was also recognized three times last season for the 4x400 relay, while Curit was honored twice last year for the same event. LaRegina earns her second career NE-10 Relay of the Week award, and Anderson collects her first.
Stonehill, ranked second in this week's U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association East Regional Computer Rankings, will be off next weekend before returning to action on March 14-15 at the NCAA Division II Indoor Track & Field Championships, held at the JDL Fast Track in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
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