NORTON, Mass. – It was an outstanding day of action for the UMass Dartmouth women's indoor track & field team, earning third overall at the 2026 Wheaton Invitational at Beard Fieldhouse. The Corsairs compiled 64 points in the eight team field backed by 13 personal records, three season's best marks and three New England D3 Provisional Qualifying marks.
In the track events, the 60-meter dash was paced by rookie
Kiki Melick, who placed eighth overall with a time of 8.20. The first year also earned a New England D3 Provisional Qualifying mark – posting an 8.16 in the preliminaries. Classmate
Kiariana Williams placed 20th overall with a time of 8.43, while rookie
Laylaa Plaisir was 34th with a personal record mark of 9.10.
In the 60-meter hurdles, rookie
Adama Bangura was 11th overall with a mark of 10.88, while Plaisir posted 13th with a personal record time of 11.55. Rookie
Elizabeth Fagundes also had a solid effort – finishing 14th with a personal record time of 11.75. The Mile was paced by graduate student
Julia Latura, who was seventh with a mark of 5:40.27, while rookie
Nicole Mota was 17th with a mark of 6:17.14.
Senior
Grace Russell powered to seventh overall with a season's best time of 1:04.87 in the 400-meters, while the 1,000-meters was paced by sophomore
Sara Lopez with a sixth-place season's best finish of 3:18.23. Senior
Tori Schweitzer and rookie
Isabelle Chekares were 11th (3:31.52) and 16th (3:58.95), respectively.
It was a packed filed in the 3,000-meters, which saw all eight of the Corsairs runners post personal record marks. Rookie
Alexah Pedder paced the way, taking fourth overall in 11:22.46. Sophomore
Ashlyn Byrnes ran to sixth in 11:34.07, while junior
Serena Carnes was seventh in 11:38.12. Rookie
Lylah Thibeault was ninth in 11:44.45, while sophomore
Alexia Gonsalves posted 10th in 11:46.56.
Junior
Liv DeSimone was 12th in the 3,000m with a time of 11:46.80 with rookies
Elena Aponte and
Raeleigh Levesque earning 14th (11:59.77) and 16th (12:15.01), respectively, to round out the personal record marks in the event.
Wrapping up the track events was the 4x400-meter relay as the A relay of Latura, Schweitzer, Byrnes and Lopez took fifth overall in 4:30.96. Senior
Isabella Taccogna, Russell, Williams and rookie
Tiana Jacques were eighth in 4:40.70.
In the field events, rookie
Kearston Nelson posted fifth overall in the shot put with a New England D3 Provisional Qualifying mark of 10.99 meters (36' .75"). Classmate
Addy Keller was seventh with a mark of 10.20 meters (33' 5.75"), while sophomore
Olivia Seutter was eighth with a throw of 9.99 meters (32' 9.5").
The weight throw saw junior
Emily Hesketh post fourth overall with a throw of 12.54 meters (41' 1.75"), while Seutter was eighth with a mark of 11.16 meters (36' 7.5). Sophomore
Abby O'Leary finished 10th overall with a mark of 11.01 meters (36' 1.5"), while Keller finished 14th overall with a distance of 9.16 meters (30' .75").
Rookie
Eshaya Lauder had an outstanding effort in the long jump, placing second overall with a New England D3 Provisional Qualifying mark of 5.11 meters (16' 9.25"), while sophomore
Leandra Paul was ninth with a jump of 3.95 meters (12' 11.5") – which also marked a season's best.
The pole vault saw rookie
Grace Hawranik earn second overall with a height of 2.70 meters (8' 10.25"), while Taccogna was sixth in the high jump with a season's best mark of 1.48 meters (4' 10.25"). Bangura went on to place third in the triple jump with a personal record mark of 9.74 meters (31' 11.5"), while Taccogna finished fifth in the triple with a distance of 9.62 meters (31' 6.75").
UMass Dartmouth will return to action on Saturday, February 14, traveling to Medford, Mass., to compete at the Tufts Cupid Challenge.
