Wise, Japser, Donohue Highlight Women's Outdoor Track At UMass Amherst

Amherst, MA --- Senior Briana Wise (Worcester, MA/Burncoat) and sophomore Alyssa Jasper (Rockland, MA) both placed first in their respective events while fourth-year Erin Donohue (Saugus, MA) reset a pair of school records as the Worcester State women's track and field team tied for 11th at the UMass Amherst Minutemen Invitational on Saturday afternoon.

UConn (108 points) edged Boston College for the top spot (106) in a competative field that featured several top teams from Division I, II and III in New England. The Lancers equaled for 11th with AIC, finishing with 29 points.

Wise took home first in the 200 meters (25.12) for the 15th best time in Division III after Saturday's competition. Wise also placed sixth in the 100 (12.62) and helped lead the 4x100 meter relay team to fifth (48.99).

Other members of the 4x100 whose split from two weeks ago at Tufts is third in Division III New England (48.93) included junior Christy Deininger (N. Attleboro, MA) along with sophomore teammates Liz Bodensieck (Raynham, MA) and Brittany Hodgerney (Leicester, MA).

Jasper heaved a top distance in the javelin (140-10/42.92m) to leapfrog herself into fifth on the NCAA Division III list. She also had a toss of 12th in the shot put to qualify for the Division III New England Championships (37-5/11.40m).

Donohue's performance on the track was really the story of the day with a time of eighth in the 5,000 (17:56.03) to put her name on the Open New England qualifiers and shatter her own school mark by 44 seconds at UMass Dartmouth in 2011. She also eclipsed another 1993 mark (5:02.32) of Erica Pierce for the second-consecutive week with 26th in the 1,500 (4:54.13).

Hodgerney also placed 16th in the 100 (12.99) before adding 18th in the 200 (26.32) to qualify for the ECAC Division III Championships.  Deininger scored eighth in the 100 meter hurdles (15.44) and 28th in the 200 (26.82) while sophomore Amanda Caldarone (Danvers, MA) placed 19th in the 100 hurdles.

In the field, junior Hannah Werneth (N. Yarmouth, ME) chalked up 10th in the shot put (37-9.50/11.52m) and 16th in the discus (111-2/33.89m) as freshman Courtney Spinelli (Tewksbury, MA) added ninth in the javelin (108-1/32.95m).

Sophomore Cayla Leinonen (Spencer, MA) vaulted a height of ninth in the high jump (4-11.50/1.51m) to cap off the meet for the Lancers.

Next week Worcester State will compete at MIT as a warm-up before the MASCAC/Alliance Championships at Bridgewater State on April 27.  Jasper will try to put up a solid point total in the heptathlon in the two-day competition at Holy Cross on Wednesday and Thursday.