ROXBURY, Mass. (February 24, 2022)-After the first day at the Northeast-10 Conference Indoor Championship, the Stonehill College women's track and field team currently sit in third place (33 points) while the University of New Haven (34 points) and Southern New Hampshire University (46 points) are the only schools ahead of the Skyhawks. However, the squad had a strong outing as Haley Lightbody paced the purple and white with a first-place win in the pole vault whereas seven other Skyhawks finished within the top-five and six others qualified for the finals tomorrow in their respective events.

Highlights:

• For the second straight NE10 Indoor Championship, Lightbody won the pole vault event with a height of 3.25 meters to earn the Skyhawks a key 10 points in the meet.  Her recorded vault in today's meet marked a new season-high for the junior as she has posted marks of 3.0 meters or higher in three out of her last four meets. Not far behind Lightbody was Abigail Larsson who ended up in third place and earned six points to give Stonehill an overall 16 points from one event. Larsson reached a height of 3.10 meters which is her third-highest mark on the season. Overall, she has posted heights of 3.0 meters or high in four out of the five meets she's competed in this season. WIth their top-three finishes, both Lightbody and Larsson earned All-Conference honors.  
• In the 5,000-meter run, Stonehill took home two of the top-10 spots while earning six points in the event. Victoria Lombardi paced the Skyhawks with a fourth-place finish when she crossed the finish line at 18:00.86 (five points). Her blistering time set a new personal record topping her previous best of 18:10.16 set back in May (2021 NE10 Outdoor Championship). Rounding out Stonehill's top-10 finishes was Rebecca Erhard in eighth place with a time of 18:28.99 (one point). Erhard also set a new personal best in the event topping her previous high of 18:36.66 also set back in May at the 2021 NE10 Outdoor Championship. Isabella Kennedy also partook in the 5,000-meter run with a time of 19:42.49 and a 13th place finish. Overall on the year, Kennedy has posted a sub 19:50 each time she has raced in the 5,000 meters. 
• During the distance-medley relay, Stonehill grabbed third place at 12:41.86. Erin Johnston, Ashley Warren, Caitlin Swanson, and Jillian Howard represented Stonehill in the event and helped the squad earn another key six points for the day. With their third-place finish, the group of runners was named All-Conference recipients. 
• Cassidy Becker made her collegiate debut in the pentathlon with a strong performance of fourth place as she earned 2,768 points and overall four more points for Stonehill. In each event she competed in during the pentathlon, Becker placed within the top-five in three out of the five events including a fourth-place finish in the 800-meter run as she crossed the line at 2:46.46. Becker's strong finish in the 800-meter also was a personal best for her as she surpassed her previous high of 2:47.93 set back in May at the NE10 Outdoor Championship when she competed in the heptathlon. 

Other Performances:

• For throwing events, the Skyhawks garnered one point in the weighted throw preliminaries event when Madison Gunderway in her NE10 Championship debut had a toss of 12.42 meters that was good for eighth place and qualified her for tomorrow's finals. Meanwhile, Krista Stracqualursi finished not far behind in 10th place with a throw of 12.22 meters which was .01 meters away from her personal best. It is the second time this season Stracqualursi had a throw of 12.00 meters or greater.  
• The 60-meter hurdle preliminaries is where Stonehill saw the most runners qualify for a spot in the finals (three) and also had five runners placed within the top-15. Savanna Macaluso not only qualified for the finals, but she paced the Skyhawks in third place with a time of 9.07 seconds which was also a season-best for Macaluso. Casey Gannon also qualified for the finals tomorrow when she notched a fifth-place finish with a new career-best time of 9.07 seconds. Freshman Madison Rousseau was the last Stonehill runner to qualify for tomorrow's finals as she also ran for a new personal best at 9.27 seconds and a sixth-place finish. Abigail Creamer and Rebecca Gracia rounded out the top-15 for Stonehill with finishes of 11th (9.73 seconds) and 13th (10.61) respectively. 
• Kaytlin Encarnacao was another Skyhawk who qualified for tomorrow's final in her respective event (400-meter preliminary). Encarnacao crossed the finish line at 58.89 seconds for a fifth-place finish. Throughout the season, Encarnacao has posted times below 1:00 in her last three races in the 400-meters. 
• Caroline Surrette was the last Stonehill runner to qualify for the finals in her event on the day as she finished seventh in the 800-meter preliminaries at 2:24.18. Her time in this race marked a personal best for sophomore as she topped her previous high set back in January at the URI Coach's Invitational. 

Up Next:

Stonehill looks to bring home their eighth-straight NE10 Indoor Championship tomorrow at 11 a.m. for the final day of the NE10 Indoor Championship.

For the latest on Stonehill Athletics, follow the Skyhawks via social media on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Fans can also download the Stonehill Skyhawks "Front Row" mobile app, powered by PrestoSports, on iTunes and the Android Market.