Strong Leads the Charge for Worcester at Eastern Connecticut

Worcester, MA- In the final meet before the MASCAC Championship, the Lancers Track and Field team journeyed to Eastern Connecticut to compete at the Bonnie Edmondson Classic. Worcester State was set to mark their final attempts for qualifying times into the MASCAC Championships at Bridgewater State next week with their finishes today. They were led by the top performances of sophomore Alexis Strong (Southington, CT) who finished second in the long jump. The Blue and Gold would end the day in second with 100 points in the power packed field.

On the track side of the day the Lancers were led by the quick feet of senior Carly Gilson (Graton, MA) who finished her lap in a time of 61.73 for a third place finish in the event. Gilson would be back on the track for the half lap grabbing ninth in a 27.31 just milli seconds behind Strong who grabbed 8th in a tying time down, edging out in the hundredth to claim the finish. Joining Strong and Gilson was sophomore Meghan Driscoll (Mansfield, MA) in 21st in a 28.69, first year Emily Bodwell (Lakeville, MA) finished in 25th with a 28.95 while juniors Erin Condon (East Bridgewater, MA) and Zoe Callahan (Arlington, MA) would claim 40th and 49th in 31.79 and 36.68. Strong would claim another top spot in the 100m, finishing in fifth on a time of 12.97 and she would complete her day in the long jump where she came in second on a marking of 5.36m. Also doing double duty on the track with Strong was Bodwell who claimed 14th with a 13.44, Callahan in 45th in 17.07 and Driscoll in 21st at 13.83. Sophomore Mia Guinto (West Boylston, MA) is the only new entrant of the bunch, claiming 31st in a time of 14.78. 

As the distance on the track expanded, the Lancer success did not diminish as junior Bridget O'Malley would claim fourth in the 800m in a 2:32.07 time. Juniors Leah Berg (Worcester, MA) and Claudia Symonick (Auburn, MA) would join their classmates with a 10th and 12th finish in 2:41.84 and 2:50.24. Splitting the two runners was first year Cassandra Dirsa (Bolton, MA) who claimed 11th in 2:48.81. The 1,500m would again see junior success as Aubrey Tunnera (Marlborough, MA) would claim 10th in 6:01.50 with Jillian McMenemy (Westborough, MA) finishing in 13th at 6:14.71. Doubling the distance but keeping the success was junior Kelsey Gendreau (Seekonk, MA) in 9th in 11:51.38 with first year Samantha Edwards (East Longmeadow, MA) claiming 10th in 11:56.13. 

Inching closer to the field events the track would see some jumps as sophomore Lauren Condike (East Longmeadow, MA) claimed 3rd in the 100m hurdles in a time of 18.02 with first year Alexandria LaPointe in 5th with an 18.53. With their focus on the field LaPointe would claim 3rd in the high jump on a mark of 1.46m while Condike would claim 4th on a 1.41m height. Condike would also claim 8th in the triple jump on a 8.88m while Bodwell claimed 6th with a 6.96m

Wrapping up the day on the track was the 4x400m team of Gilson, Guinto, Berg and Condon who claimed fourth in a time of 4:40.52.

In the throwing circle sophomore Jadah Stokes (Chicopee, MA) would claim second in the shot put at 11.85m, fifth in hammer at 40.19m on the day while finishing in eighth in the discus with a 29.57m landing. Graduate student Sthanisha Moreau (Taunton, MA) would take fourth in the shot put with an 11.04m while claiming 14th in the Hammer with a 32.10m. Moreau would come out on top in the discus  with a 38.10m mark. Sophomore Luana Grau-Moura (Marlborough, MA) would claim 22nd at 8.54m and continue the multi event success with a 16th in the hammer at 30.26m and 14th in the discus at 26.67m. The last in the triple trouble was first year Charlotte Collins (Weymouth, MA) who claimed 28th in the shot put with a 8.18m and 20th in the hammer at 27.82m while wrapping up the day in 18th with a 25.52m in the discus. First year Angela Crognalo- Torrez would wrap up the shot put in 23rd with 8.52m and hit big in the javelin with a fifth place in Javelin with a 28.31m while hitting her own triple fest with a 30th place stopper in the discus with a 21.09m. Junior Ava Vasquez (Methuen, MA) would also claim top marks in the javelin with a seventh place finish at 26.95m while Condike and Condon would claim 14th and 17th with a 20.39m and 17.39m. In the hammer sophomore Morgan Merrell (Leicester, MA) would claim 12th at 32.99m and 11th in the discus with a 27.27m and junior Ava Piccolo would claim 18th with a 28.77m and 16th on a 25.97m in the discus.

Worcester State has set their qualifying marks for next Friday's Championship meet in a race for medals and All Conference glory.