Westfield State Holds Onto MASCAC Women's Indoor Track and Field Championship For Third Straight Year
Westfield State completed the three-peat as it won the MASCAC Women's Indoor Track and Field Championship with a team score of 262 points.
Individual Results | Team Results
It was a three-peat for the Westfield State women’s indoor track and field team as it claimed its third straight Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference Indoor Track and Field Championship at Plymouth State on Saturday (Feb. 16).
The Owls collected 262 points to earn the victory by a sizeable margin. Bridgewater State was the conference runner up with 147 points, followed by Worcester State with 142. Fitchburg State finished in fourth place with 26 points.
Much of Westfield’s success can be attributed to the number of individual championships Owl student-athletes earned. The Owls won more than half (10 of 19) of the events at Saturday’s championship meet. Lexi Popp was a major contributor winning both the 200m and the 400m with times of 26.72 and 58.83, respectively. Her 400m time set a new conference championship record. Popp was also part of two championship relay teams. In the 4x200, she joined Moira McDonald, Kerri Long, and Erin Giugno to win that race with a time of 1:49.01. MacDonald and Long also joined her, along with Maggie DaMotta in the 4x400, which they won with a time of 4:29.69. Long was also and individual champion in the long jump with a leap of 5.13m.
Mackenzie Connor and Lauren Gilderdale were two other Owls to earn medals in field events. Connor won the pole vault, clearing 2.75m, while Gilderdale won the weight throw chucking the 20-pound weight 14.95m.
Westfield’s final three event champions all came on the track. Taylor White won the 600m with a time of 1:45.22, Rachael Farley took the 1000m in 3:14.98, and Amy O'Sullivan captured the 5000m crown at 18:58.03.
The Bears also had a significant number of individual champions, claiming victory in seven events. Jenise Madden led the way, winning both mile (5:18.56) and the 3000m (10:48.04). Also picking up wins on the track were Emily Guyon, who won the 800m race with a time of 2:31.06, and Jayci Andrews, who won the 60m hurdles with a finals time of 8.86.
Bridgewater’s three other solo wins came in field events. Patricia Healion cleared 1.50m to win the high jump, while Molly McNamara triple jumped 10.72m to victory. Kira Gilbreath won the shot put with a toss of 12.74m.
The two other events belonged to Worcester as Bernice Mensah took the 60m, finishing with a MASCAC Championship record of 7.92, and the Lancer 4x800 relay team also captured gold. Elisabeth Olson, Kyra Siano, Courtney Guay, and Olivia Morin teamed up to win that event with a time of 10:27.23.