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| Senior Kaytlin Encarnacao made the NEC Outdoor All-Conference First Team last spring. |
EASTON, Mass. (March 22, 2024) – The Stonehill College women's track and field team was picked to finish fifth in the Northeast Conference Preseason Coaches Poll for the upcoming outdoor season, the league announced on Friday.
Stonehill most recently finished fifth at NEC indoor championships in February and will be looking to build momentum off a handful of outstanding individual performances for the upcoming spring season.
Head Coach Michael Delgado leads the Skyhawks for the fifth year and fourth outdoor season, losing one to the COVID-19 pandemic. In three outdoor seasons leading the women, Delgado has guided the team to second and third-place finishes when the Skyhawks were members of the Northeast-10 conference. In Stonehill's first season at the Division I level as the newest member of the NEC; Delgado led the team to a fourth-place finish at outdoor championships in 2023.
Despite finishing fourth a season ago, the Skyhawks were picked to finish seventh out of nine by the NEC coaches in last year's preseason poll. Looking to prove the competition wrong, the Skyhawks bring in a talented freshman class mixed in with an experienced and decorated group of upperclassmen to build on an already impressive 2023-24 campaign for the Stonehill track and field teams.
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| Sophomore Kaia Eder earned NEC All-Rookie Team honors for two seperate outdoor events a year ago. |
Central Connecticut State earned six first-place votes in the preseason poll to top the rankings while last year's outdoor champ, the Saint Francis Red Flash, garnered two first-place votes to come in second. Sacred Heart also tallied a first-place vote as they were picked to finish third this season. Saint Francis has won three consecutive outdoor conference crowns despite not topping the NEC Coaches' Preseason Poll before any of the three championship seasons.
Senior Kaytlin Encarnacao (Reading, Mass.) comes in to the spring season looking to repeat as an NEC All-Conference First Team performer after placing first in the 400-meter race at outdoor championships last year. Encarnacao is also coming off an impressive indoor season, notching two first-place finishes at NEC Championships, one in the 400m race and the other as the anchor in the 4x400m relay race. The senior sprinter also placed second in the 500-meter race at New England Championships.
Sophomore Kaia Eder (Moorestown, N.J.) joined Encarnacao a season ago among NEC postseason award winners after being named to the NEC Outdoor All-Rookie Team for both the long jump and triple jump as the top freshman finisher. Eder placed seventh in the triple jump at NEC Indoor Championships last month while breaking her own school record in the event.
Five freshmen enter the spring coming off strong performances at indoor championships with Madison Stott (Dartmouth, Mass.) placing second in the 500m race and Kellie Harrington (Pittsfield, Mass.) placing eighth in the 5000m run, while Katie Gibbons (Pembroke, Mass.) was a member of the first-place 4x400m relay race team. Anna Casey (Medford, Mass.) contributed to the Skyhawks fourth-place finish in the 4000m distance medley relay race and Kayla Oakes (Kingston, N.Y.) was named the NEC's Most Outstanding Performer in Jumps after winning the long jump in her postseason debut for the Skyhawks.
Along with Encarnacao and Eder, Stonehill returns eight other top-10 performers from last season's NEC outdoor championships that helped propel the Skyhawks to a fourth-place finish. Junior Madison Gunderway (Cranston, R.I.) won the hammer throw while juniors Emma Lawrence (Milford, Mass.) and Madison Rousseau (Canton, Mass.) each had top-3 finishes, Lawrence in the 800-meter and Rousseau in the 100-meter.
Stonehill track and field opens its outdoor season at the Merrimack Track Carnival in North Andover, Mass. at Duane Stadium on Thursday, March 28. The Skyhawks will host the 15th annual Skyhawk Invite at W.B. Mason Stadium here at Stonehill on April 27 as the team celebrates its senior class. Northeast Conference Championships will be hosted by CCSU on Saturday, May 4 and Sunday, May 5.
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