Wise Captures All-American Accolades With Second Place In 200 Meter Finals

Claremont, CA --- Junior Briana Wise (Worcester, MA/Burncoat) posted a second-place time of 24.33 in the 200 meter finals as she garnered All-American accolades on the final day of the Division III Outdoor Championships hosted by Claremont Mudd Scripps in California.

With eight points, the Blue and Gold were also in on a 12-way tie for 28th place, which marked their highest-ever finish at the Division III Championships. Their previous best was when they equaled 29th in 1996.

The honor for Wise is the exclamation point to what has been a sensational outdoor season, who becomes Worcester State's second female All-American in track and field.  

Elke Aun last was garnered with the prestigious accolades in 1997 with seventh in the heptathlon. Aun is the only WSU All-American as she accomplished the feat two more times in the heptathlon - including a National Championship in 1996 - and once more in the javelin.

Wise was beat out by 0.07 seconds by Mary Mahoney (Ashtabula, OH) of Mount Union, who won the event by clocking 24.26. The race itself was a photo finish as 0.13 seconds separated the top four places.

Freshman Alyssa Jasper (Rockland, MA) rounded out the Lancer competitors with a heave of 15th out of 22 entrants in the javelin throw (40.15m/131-09) while her toss was the fifth-longest distance for a competitor from New England. She was one of three first-year student-athletes in a field that included 22 entrants.

The toss marked her second-best tape-measure shot this season as Jasper stamped her ticket for nationals last week at the ECAC Division III Championship with the top place in the javelin throw of the heptathlon (41.18m/135-1).

On Friday, sophomore Christy Deininger (Attleboro, MA) tied for 18th in the 100 meter hurdles and Wise placed 14th in the 100 meters.

Deininger's split of 14.567 tied her own school record in the 100 hurdles as it was near the exact same reading on the clock that she ran last week at the ECACs, which qualified her for the national meet.

Wise posted a time of 12.15 for 14th place in the 100, which was 0.03 seconds off from ninth, which would have stamped her ticket for Saturday's finals. Wise was the lone competitor in a field of 22 from New England.

Wise broke the school record in the 100 meters two weeks ago at MIT with the top Division III time at the Open New England Championship (12.04).

On Thursday, the 4x100 meter relay team of Wise, Deininger, senior Sarah Rafferty (Uxbridge, MA) and freshman Brittany Hodgerney (Leicester, MA) placed 11th out of 16 entries. The squad clocked 47.56, which was just 0.04 seconds away from ninth and a slot in Saturday's finals.

On May 4, the 4x100 team won the first-ever relay at a regional competition with the top spot at the Division III New England Championships with a school-record time of 47.27.

WSU had five female student-athletes at the Division III Outdoor Championships which represented the most in program history and it tied the mark for the highest overall; All-American shot putter and Lancer Hall of Famer John Dupuis and the mile relay all represented Worcester State in 1975.