Women's Track Captures MASCAC Championship

WESTFIELD, Mass.  –  The Westfield State women's track and field team held off a strong challenge from Bridgewater State to win the 2024 MASCAC Outdoor Track and Field Title at the Jerry Gravel Track and Alumni Field in Westfield on Friday.

The win makes it a clean sweep for the Owl women, who won the cross-country title in the fall and the indoor track title this winter.

Westfield had a number of event winners.  In the first running even of the day, the 10,000 meters, the Owls Rebecca Patel (Belchertown, Mass.) took over with five laps to go 40:52.87 to post an eight-second margin of victory over Fitchburg's Skye Goba.

Westfield caught some extra momentum early, when it found itself the winner in the 4x100 relay when Bridgewater was disqualified for a handoff outside of the zone on the final handoff.   Westfield's quartet of Eliza Lee (Walpole, Mass.), Emily Ottomaniello (Agawam, Mass.), Paige Moroney (Sterling, Mass.) and Delaney Parker  (Orange, Mass.) became the MASCAC champs in the event with a time of 50.46, which for the moment vaults them to 48^th in the nation on the NCAA Division III performance list.

Ottomaniello picked up the win in the women's pole vault with a height of 2.14.  She defeated teammate Page Brandt (Woodbury, Conn.) (1.99m) as the Owls were the lone squad in the league to field contestants in the event.

In the 3000 steeplechase, Julianne Kelly (Natick, Mass.) went right to the front and never looked back, wining in wire-to-wire fashion in a time of 132:34.09, 37 seconds better than her next closest competitor.

Owls posted 2-3-4-5 finishes to pile up 20 points in the scoring in the 1,500 meters, as Shea Hamel (Longmeadow, Mass.) headed that group in 4:59.93, followed by Molly Kennedy (West Springfield Mass), Ariann LeCours (Haverhill, Mass.), and Tealei Chandonnet (Dracut, Mass.).

Bronwyn Pinsley won the discus with a toss of 35.08 meters.

Eliza Lee (Walpole, Mass.) won the 800 meters, with Kerin Johnson (Weymouth, Mass.) in third and Ariann Lecours sixth to help keep the Bears at bay , with Westfield outscoring Bridgewater 17-6 in the event.

Lee tacked on a win in the triple jump, posting a PR mark of 11.20 meters, good for 48^th on the NCAA D3 national performance list.

While not a win, one of the key tuning points of the afternoon came when Westfield State's Allison Downin (Hudson, Mass.) passed Bridgewater runner Lily Valcovic with 200 meters to go to place third in the 5000 meters, locking up a 4-point swing in the Owls favor.

Westfield closed out the meet in fashion, as the quartet of Tealei Chandonnet (Dracut, Mass.), Brynne LeCours (Haverhill, Mass.), Ariann LeCours (Haverhill, Mass.) and Kennedy romped to nearly a one-minute win over the Bears in the 4x800 relay, with a time of 10:26.84.   The Owls backed up that performance when the foursome of Lee, Savannah Campbell (Walpole, Mass.), Moroney and Anjalina Lubarsky (Ludlow, Mass.) hit the tape first in the 4x400 with a season best time of 4:16.98, 11 seconds ahead of the second-place bears.

The title ends a 5-year drought at the top of the league for the Owls, who last captured the outdoor track team title in the spring of 2019.

Westfield finished with 201 points, Bridgewater with 175.  Worcester State was third with 94, Fitchburg fourth with 77, and Framingham State fifth with 63.

Westfield will next have qualified athletes compete at the New England Division III championship meet at Mount Holyoke College on May 3 and 4.