NEICAAA Championship Meet Program
Women first, Men third in USTFCCCA East Regional Poll
EASTON, Mass. (May 10, 2018) – The Stonehill College men's and women's track and field team will compete in the two-day 2018 New England Outdoor Championships, 131st edition, on Friday, May 11-Saturday, May 12, hosted by Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire at Memorial Field.
The women are currently ranked No. 1 in this week's U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) NCAA Division II East Regional Computer Rankings, while the men are placed third behind Southern Connecticut State University and American International College, respectively.
Last week, the women won their fourth Northeast-10 Conference Outdoor Championship in program history and their third-straight outdoor title.
The men placed third behind 15-time NE10 Championship Southern Connecticut State University and runner-up American International College.
At last years' New England Championship, the Stonehill women's squad finished 13th among 39 teams, while the men's team placed 13th among 36 teams at the meet.
Tobin has won back-to-back NE10 individual championships and aims to best her personal best this year of 12 feet, 9 inches (PHOTO BY: SportsPix) |
WOMEN:
Senior Emily Knox (Worcester, Massachusetts/Notre Dame Academy) sits 18th out of 32 in the 5000-meter run with her time of 17:35.46.
The trio of Alison Tobin (Hudson, Massachusetts/Hudson), Ashley Colarusso (Tewksbury, Massachusetts/Tewksbury Memorial), and Alexandra Sexton (Los Gatos, California/Los Gatos) will make their appearance in the pole vault event, as Tobin sits seventh in the New England Performance list and is currently 12th on the NCAA Division II performance list with a school record mark of 12 feet, 9 inches. Colarusso and Sexton are ranked 18th and 21st, respectively.
Junior Courtney Daggett (Attleboro, Mass./Attleboro) and sophomore Madison Ward (Holliston, Massachusetts/Holliston) will both be competing in the high jump in their third and second, respective appearances at the Championship. They are ranked 19th and 20th, respectively with their mark of 5 feet, 4.5 inches.
Junior Olivia Dexter (East Calais, Vt./Union 32) will be competing in her third New England's Championship as she has qualified in two events this season. She is currently ranked fourth in the 100-meter dash with her time of 11.95, as the second Division II competitor, with her mark at the NE10 Championship where she took home the individual title and set a new school record. She is also placed eighth in the 200-meter sprint with a time of 24.95, also from the NE10 Championship last weekend.
Senior Emily Polvere (Somers, New York/Somers) also qualified for the 200-meter dash with her time of 25.23 and is ranked 15th out of 32 competitors, making an appearance in her fourth New England Championship.
Freshman Fiona Jordan (Norwood, Massachusetts/Norwood) qualified for her first outdoor New England Championship ranking 28th in the 400-meter run with her time of 58.46 at the NE10 Championship this past weekend as she took home fifth place.
Junior Jillian Caiazzi (Marlborough, Massachusetts/Marlborough) who took home the 800-meter title at the NE10 Championship, and is ranked 20th out of 32 competitors in the event with a time of 2:13.96. She will be running in her third outdoor New England Championship.
Classmate Elizabeth Hannon (Franklin, Massachusetts/Bishop Feehan) and sophomore Anna Lastra (Bridgton, Maine/Fryeburg Academy) will battle in the 1500-meter run as they are ranked 24th and 32nd on the performance list. Hannon finished as the runner-up in the 1500-meter run with a time of 4:38.57 at the NE10 Championship, while Lastra clocked in a time of 4:42.13, taking home fourth as part of the sweep of Skyhawks at the meet.
With three All-Conference performances last weekend, Gannon is ranked 17th in the 400-meter hurdles (PHOTO BY: SportsPix) |
In the hurdles section, sophomore Zoe Smith (Rochester, Massachusetts/Old Rochester Regional) will take on the 100-meters with her ranking of 17th and time of 14.97 from the 11th Annual Skyhawk Invitational, as she runs in her first New England Championship in her career.
Freshman Casey Gannon (Warwick, Rhode Island/Toll Gate), who earned three All-Conference honors last weekend will attempt to best her time of 1:03.51 in the 400-meter hurdles for her first outdoor New England Championship. Junior Krista Fernandes (Taunton, Massachusetts/Coyle and Cassidy) follows Gannon with a placement of 17th in the event out of 32 with her time of 1:04.60. Last year, Fernandes finished 18th in the hurdles with a time of 1:04.50.
Sophomore Jordan Callahan (Plymouth, Massachusetts/Plymouth North) takes on the 3000-meter steeplechase for her first time at the New England Championship, she previously competed in the 3000-meter indoor Championship. Her time from the NE10 Championship of 11:30.77 has her 20th out of 31 competitors.
The 4x100-meter relay team's school record time of 47.20, which was also the time for the first-place title at the NE10 Championship is fifth on the performance list as the second Division II institution. Southern Connecticut's time of 46.96 is second in the Championship. The 4x400-meter relay and 4x800-meter relay also qualified for the Championships this weekend as the 4x400 is 10th as the second Division II team with its time of 3:55.91. The 4x800-meter relay posted a time of 9:13.38 and is the first Division II team on the performance list.
Gaelin Farrell (Baldwinville, Massachusetts/Narragansett Regional) will be competing in her fourth New England Championship, as she just missed out on All-New England honors last year with a ninth-place finish and a throw of 42 feet, 2 inches. The senior looks to best her mark of 43 feet, 1.75 inches from this season's NE10 Championship, as she is ranked 11th in the field of 24. Sophomore Shayla Lyons (Westerlo, New York/Bishop Maginn/Berne-Knox Westerlo) is ranked just below Farrell in the shot put with her throw of 42, 0.75 inches this season at the Skyhawk Invitational.
Lyons is also competing in the discus for the first time. She ranks third out of the top 24 competitors with her mark of 133 feet, 10 inches from the Skyhawk Invitational.
After breaking her own school record at the NE10 Championship last week in the heptathlon with 4027 points, Colleen Perry (Weymouth, Massachusetts/Weymouth) sits 11th out of 12 competitors. She will be competing in her second New England Championship, where she assisted the 4x400-meter relay team last year to a 10th-place finish.
Ireland makes his second appearance in the outdoor New England Championships ranked fifth in the 100-meter and seventh in the 200-meter sprints (PHOTO BY: SportsPix) |
MEN:
Sophomore Justin Ireland (Norton, Massachusetts/Norton) qualified for two events in his first New England Championship, as he is ranked fifth among 32 competitors in the 100-meter dash with a career-best time of 10.81, just .20-seconds shy of the school record. Ireland is also competing in the 200-meter sprint with a career-best time of 21.76-seconds, ranking seventh. Junior Joseph Connolly (Wilmington, Massachusetts/Austin Prep) sits sixth above Ireland in the 200-meter run with his career- best time of 21.70 which he set in the preliminary round at the NE10 Championship last weekend.
Juniors Stephen Vercollone (Pembroke, Massachusetts/Pembroke) and Lucas Taxter (Readville, Massachusetts/Xaverian Brothers) will compete in their third New England Championship each. Vercollone qualified with his time of 1:51.19 in the 800-meter run, while Taxter posted a time of 1:51.53, placing them eighth and 10th, respectively on the performance list.
Classmates Riley Dowd (Peabody, Massachusetts/Peabody Veterans Memorial) and Alexander Demeule (Merrimac, Massachusetts/Pentucket Regional) qualified for the 1500-meter run with their season-best times this year. Dowd sits 17th in the event out of 32 runners with his time of 3:54.35, as Demeule is 24th in the field with a mark of 3:55.77. This will be Dowd's first outdoor championship and Demeule's second.
Five Skyhawks will battle in the 5000-meter run, including senior Kenny Vinacco (Scituate, Rhode Island/Scituate) who is ranked 17th, junior Lawrence Carney (Lowell, Massachusetts/Lowell) who is ranked 19th, freshman Kevin Wheelock (Melrose, Massachusetts/Melrose) who is placed 23rd, senior Sam Bradford (Bedford, Massachusetts/Bedford) who sits 25th, and senior Jimmy Murphy (Mansfield, Massachusetts/Mansfield) who is 32nd.
In the 110-meter hurdles, freshman Ethan Famiano (Warwick, Rhode Island/Bishop Hendricken) will compete in his first outdoor New England Championship with his time of 14.99-seconds posting ninth place on the performance list, while sophomore Collin Kuchachik (Orange, Connecticut/Amity Regional) will also run in his first Championship with a time of 15.20-seconds, ranking 14th overall.
The Skyhawks will make an appearance in two relays, as the 4x100-meter relay team is ranked fourth as the second Division II program with their time of 41.71 among 13 teams. The 4x800-meter relay team is also ranked in the top-10 among 15 teams in the event with their time of 7:40.37.
Senior Jordan Sullivan (Sound Beach, New York/Miller Place) makes his first appearance at the New England Championships, ranking 11th in the high jump with a height of 6 feet, 3.25 inches, which he cleared at the Skyhawk Invitational this season.
Dowd is ranked 17th in the 1500-meter run with a season best time from the NE10 Championships, where he placed fifth (PHOTO BY: SportsPix) |
Classmate Anthony Innamorati (Clinton, Massachusetts/Clinton) competes in his fourth New England Outdoor Championships, where he placed 11th last year in the pole vault. This year he is ranked 13th out of 23 with his season-best of 15 feet, 3 inches at the NE10 Championship, good for second place.
After earning his second-career All-Conference honor at the NE10 Championships, junior Xavier Young (Barnegat, New Jersey/Barnegat) sits 13th out of 24 competitors in the shot put at his first New England Outdoor Championships. His runner up mark at the NE10 Championship last weekend of 50 feet, 7.5 inches was a career best for the junior.
Senior Stefan Balestra (Lincoln, Rhode Island/Lincoln) is competing in his fourth outdoor New England Championships and is currently 12th in the hammer throw with a mark of 178 feet, 11.5 inches where he finished first at Holy Cross Invitational. He will be competing in his fourth outdoor New England Championship.
Stonehill will be off next weekend before returning to action from May 24-26, when its qualified individuals compete at the NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field Championships, hosted by the Johnson C. Smith University at the Irwin Belk Complex in Charlotte, North Carolina.
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