Westfield State Edges Women's Outdoor Track For MASCAC Title

Fitchburg, MA --- Despite five first-place individual finishes and two top relays, Westfield State edged out Worcester State by nine points (206-193) for the MASCAC Outdoor title.

The Lancers did, however, place second overall in the New England Alliance standings on the backs of junior Mara Kralian (N. Grafton, MA) and sophomore Briana Wise (Worcester, MA/Burncoat). The meet was hosted by Fitchburg State University.

The 4x100 meter relay team of Kralian, Wise, junior Sarah Rafferty (Uxbridge, MA) and freshman Christy Deininger (N. Attleboro, MA) posted a new MASCAC, Alliance and school record with a time of 49.08, eclipsing the old mark (49.12) which was set late in the season at MIT.

The 4x400 meter relay squad of freshman teammates Wise, Alison Hickey (Easton, MA), Megan Taylor (Danvers, MA) and Kralian eclipsed the previous MASCAC, Alliance and school records with a time of 4:06.30 as the previous mark was 4:07.28 and set at last year's Division III New England's.

Other top finishes included Kralian in the long jump (5.45 meters), freshman Hannah Werneth (N. Yarmouth, MA) in the shot put (11.41 meters), first-year Ali Barrett (Hingham, MA) in the 10,000 meters (42.47), rookie Amanda Holden (Lunenburg, MA) in the 100 meter hurdles (15.89) and sophomore Erin Donohue (Sagus, MA) in the 5,000 (19:00.84).

Kralian was second overall in both the MASCAC and Alliance with a blistering time of 12.60 in the 100 while Wise was second in the MASCAC and Alliance in the 200 (26.33) and right behind Kralian in the long jump with a leap of 5.17 meters).

Holden's time was good enough to qualify for the Open New England Championships in two weeks at Southern Connecticut.

Next week the Lancers will look to regroup at the Division III New England Championships which will be hosted by MIT on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.