Preview: Women’s Track & Field Sends Fifth-Straight DMR to Nationals

Stonehill has sent five-straight 4000-meter distance medley relay teams to nationals 

NCAA Division II Indoor Track & Field Championships Schedule & Accepted Athletes List 

EASTON, Mass. (March 8, 2017) – Stonehill College women's track and field 4000-meter distance medley relay team, including Elizabeth Hannon (Franklin, Massachusetts/Bishop Feehan), Anna Lastra (Bridgton, Maine/Fryeburg Academy), Jillian Caiazzi (Marlborough, Massachusetts/Marlborough), and Krista Fernandes (Taunton, Massachusetts/Coyle and Cassidy), are set to represent the Skyhawks at the 2018 NCAA Division II Indoor Track & Field Championships, hosted by Pittsburg State University at the state of the art Robert W. Plaster Center.

Lastra, Caiazzi, and Fernandes will be competing in their second Indoor Championship, while Hannon will be representing Stonehill in her first track championship. Hannon and Lastra have previously run in NCAA Division II Cross Country Championships.

The DMR climbed uphill this season to its current seventh-place seeding in the performance list. The squad first took first place at the URI Sorlein Memorial Invitational in mid-January with a time of 12:20.65, and followed that with another first place result at the New England Indoor Track & Field Championships at the Reggie Lewis Track & Athletic Center bypassing the NCAA provisional time of 12:05.41 with their time of 11:56.76 and taking home an All-New England honor. The DMR's next stop was the NE10 Championship at Smith College, where they also took home a first-place result with their second time bypassing the qualifying time with a mark of 11:57.71. At the end of February, the quartet competed at the BU Last Chance Meet and dropped 11 seconds off their time finishing second clocking in at 11:39.90. This time is also four minutes off of the school record time of 11:35.05, set back in 2016.


Caiazzi

Fernandes

Lastra

Hannon

At Boston University, sophomore Lastra kicked off the relay with an unofficial 3:36.5 1200-meter split, followed by junior Fernandes' unofficial 58.0 400-meter leg. Classmate, Caiazzi took the baton and clocked an unofficial personal best time of 2:11.8 in the 800-meter third leg, while Hannon crossed the finish with an unofficial personal best time of 4:53.4 mile split.

Last indoor season, Stonehill finished 13th at the Championship, hosted by the University of Alabama-Huntsville and the Birmingham CrossPlex. The Skyhawks clocked in at 11:46.65 with Lastra running the 1200-meter opening leg, Fernandes in the 400-meter leg, Caiazzi in the 800-meter leg, and All-American Nicole Borofski '17 running the mile anchor leg.

The NCAA Track and Field Championship schedule will run from Friday, March 9 to Saturday, March 10. The men's distance medley relay will run first at 6:40 p.m. on Friday, followed by the women's DMR event at 7:00 p.m.  

All session passes for the NCAA Division II Track and Field Championships are $20. Single session passes are $12 for adults and $7 for students and children ages 3-18, children two years and under are free. Tickets may be purchased in advance at the Pittsburg State University Ticket Office, by phone at 620-235-4796 or online at http://www.pittstate.edu/office/tickets/. Tickets may also be purchased on the day of competition at the spectator entrance to the Robert W. Plaster Center. Links to live results as well as live video webcast will be available via stonehillskyhawks.com for both days.

The Stonehill women's track and field program captured its fifth-straight Northeast-10 Conference Indoor Championship in program history, matching the NE10 record for consecutive indoor wins, tying the University of Massachusetts Lowell, who won the title from 2002-06. The Stonehill women have now won eight-straight combined NE10 titles for cross country, indoor and outdoor track & field dating back to 2015. The squads have also captured 14 of the last 15 combined NE10 Championships since 2013.    

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