MEDFORD, Mass. – It was a solid day of action for the UMass Dartmouth women's track & field team, who competed at the non-team scoring Tufts Sunshine Classic on Saturday afternoon. The Corsairs saw a number of strong performances, including a victory in the field events from grad student
Kate Hockenbury.
The 5,000-meters kicked things off as rookie
Alexia Gonsalves posted third overall in a time of 21:25.44 – competing in the event for the first time this outdoor season. Sophomore
Serena Carnes finished fifth with a mark of 22:04.13, while rookie
Lylah Thibeault was sixth overall with a time of 22:38.27.
In the 1,500-meter run, the Corsairs were paced by grad student
Emily Philbrook, who recorded a personal best time of 5:11.07 for sixth overall. Sophomore
Sarah Lynch posted eighth with a personal best mark of 5:18.58, while classmate
Sophie Owen was right behind in ninth with a time of 5:33.89. Rookie
Olivia DeSimone rounded out the action in 10th with a time of 5:41.21.
Up next was the 400-meter dash as rookie
Sara Lopez recorded a time of 1:03.58 – good for fourth overall, while also marking her first career running of the event. The 100-meter hurdles finals saw both Corsairs competitors in action as rookie
Belleya Franck was second with a personal best time of 17.52, while classmate
Zairah Saint-Jean was fourth in 18.90 – also a personal best.
The 100-meter dash saw rookie
Phoebe Gesner advance to finals, placing fifth overall with a personal best time of 13.02. Also in action in the 100m were rookies
Erica Markey and
Doreen Vassor, who posted 13th (14.08 – personal best) and 14th (14.39 – personal best), respectively.
Graduate student
Emma Steedman paced the way in the 800-meter run, finishing seventh overall with a personal best time of 2:25.22. Senior
Anya Aadland crossed 12th overall with a personal best time of 2:32.90, while classmates
Bee Greenberg and
Julia Latura were 13th (2:34.46 – personal best) and 14th (2:35.08), respectively. Rookie
Ashlyn Byrnes posted 15th in 2:38.62 in her first collegiate running of the 800m, while junior
Tori Schweitzer was 16th in 2:42.71. Rounding out the efforts was sophomore
Kyla Palmer, who placed 17th in 2:55.34.
In the 400-meter hurdles, junior
Grace Russell was fourth overall with a time of 1:12.74, while the 200-meter dash saw Gesner take fourth overall in a personal best time of 27.30. Markey was 10th in 30.06 (personal best), as Vassor was right behind in 11th with a personal best mark of 30.31.
UMass Dartmouth rounded out the track events with the 4x400-meter relay as the foursome of Aadland, Latura, Lopez and Steedman posted second in 4:22.38. The foursome of Schweitzer, Byrnes, Lynch and Greenberg were third overall in 4:45.87, while Palmer, DeSimone, Owen and Philbrook were fourth in 5:05.18.
The field events saw rookie
Zairah Saint-Jean place 12th overall in the long jump with a mark of 4.01 meters (13' 2"). In the hammer throw, senior
Mia Mejia-Maalouf earned fourth with a personal best throw of 40.88 meters (134' 1"), while junior
Emily Hesketh was fifth with a mark of 40.57 meters (133' 1").
Junior
Lauren Donlan placed eighth in the hammer with a personal best distance of 37.63 meters (123' 5"), while senior
Neisha Boiteux was ninth overall with a mark of 36.61 meters (120' 1"). Sophomore
Abby O'Leary was 15th with a throw of 31.32 meters (102' 9"), while rookie
Olivia Seutter was 16th with a personal best mark of 30.62 meters (100' 5"). Grad student
Kate Hockenbury was 17th with a throw of 30.60 meters (100' 4"), while classmate
Alexa Lemieux and rookie
Caroline Lander were 22nd (25.13m – 82' 5") and 23rd (24.79m – 81' 4"), respectively.
In the discus, Boiteux placed third overall with a D3 New England qualifying throw of 34.74 meters (113' 11"), while Seutter was fourth with a personal best mark of 33.79 meters (110' 10"). Hesketh was ninth (31.02m – 101' 9"), while Donlan posted 10th (28.04m – 92' 0"). Lander rounded out the action in 18th (21.60m – 70' 10").
The javelin throw saw Mejia-Maalouf take fourth overall with a personal best distance of 32.74 meters (107' 5"), while Russell was seventh with a mark of 28.67 meters (94' 0"). Hockenbury was eighth with a throw of 27.07 meters (88' 9"), while Lander took ninth with a personal best distance of 26.03 meters (85' 4"). Rounding out the efforts was Lemieux, who posted 12th with a throw of 24.14 meters (79' 2").
Hockenbury earned the victory in the shot put, posting a D3 New England qualifying throw of 11.76 meters (38' 7"), while Boiteux was fifth with a mark of 10.70 meters (35' 1.25"). Seutter was 11th with a throw of 9.94 meters (32' 7.5"), while O'Leary finished 16th with a distance of 9.51 meters (31' 2.5").
The Corsairs return to action next Saturday when they host the 2025 Little East Conference Outdoor Championships. Action gets underway for both the track and field events at 10:00am.
