Women's Outdoor Track Takes Home First At Fitchburg State Invitational

MASCAC Weekly Women's Track & Field Release

Fitchburg, MA --- Sophomore Christy Deininger (Attleboro, MA) broke the school record in the 100 meter hurdles (14.80) with second and Worcester State claimed seven first-place finishes as the Lancers took home first place at the Fitchburg State Invitational this afternoon.

Deininger shattered mark (14.85) held by Hall of Famer Elke Aun almost 16 years to the day (4/18/96) that was set at Holy Cross. In addition to placing fourth in the 100 meters (12.77), Deininger was honored as this week's Co-MASCAC Track Athlete of the Week.

The top finishes included junior Briana Wise (Worcester, MA/Burncoat) in the 100 (12.51), third-year Erin Donohue (Saugus, MA) with a career-best in the 800 (2:27.70), sophomore Megan Taylor (Danvers, MA) in the 400 meter hurdles (1:06.26), senior Maura Withington (W. Palm Beach, FL) in the 3,000 meter steeplechase (14:20.56) and classmate Meg Plant (Franklin, MA) in the 5,000.

The 4x400 meter relay team of Taylor, and freshman teammates Kim West (Harvard, MA), Brittany Hodgerney (Leicester, MA) and Alexandria McMahon (E. Longmeadow, MA) claimed first with a time of 4:15.56 and second-year Hannah Werneth (N. Yarmouth, ME) had the best toss in the shot put (11.32m/37-01.75).

In the 400 meter hurdles, McMahon was only 71 hundredths of a second off Taylors time in second (1:06.97) as both stamped their tickets to the Division III New England Championships.

Rookie Amanda Caldarone (Danvers, MA) finished as the runner-up in the long jump and qualified for the ECAC Division III Championships in the process (5.28m/17-04), while McMahon placed sixth (4.95m/16-03.25) in the same event.

Other Division III New England standard bearers included a collegiate-best time by senior Sarah Rafferty (Uxbridge, MA) who came in 3rd in the 100 (12.70) and junior Nicki Lemelin (Beverly, MA) who placed eighth in the 200 (26.98).

Sophomore Gaby Gonet (Agawam, MA) equaled her record-setting height with sixth in the pole vault (2.60m/8-06.25) and Taylor improved on her DIII qualifying height with fifth in the high jump (1.50m/4-11).

To round out the sprinters, Hodgerney and West placed third (1:01.02) and fifth (1:02.02) in the 400, respectively.

In the field, Werneth placed fourth in the discus (32.15m/105-06), sophomore Marlene Christenson (Danvers, MA) added fourth in the hammer (36.65m/120-03) and second-year Nicole Hanson (N. Dighton, MA) was fifth with a throw of 34.40 meters in the javelin (112-10).

Freshman Jennifer Cardinal (Chicopee, MA) and sophomore Ali Barrett (Hingham, MA) were both seconds apart in the 800 with fourth (2:33.23) and fifth (2:34.05), respectively.

Next week the Lancers will compete at the MASCAC/Alliance Championships at Westfield State.