WESTON, Mass. – In just its second season as an NCAA Division III varsity program, the Endicott women's track and field team placed first overall out of 11 teams at the Regis Spring Classic on Friday evening, hosted by Regis College. It marks the first time in program history that Endicott has captured first place honors at a meet.
Endicott scored 120 points to edge out conference rival Gordon (114.50) for the top spot, while Regis (114) and Husson (104.50) followed in order. Meanwhile, Newbury (40) and Suffolk (40) tied for fifth place to round out the remainder of the teams who scored 10-plus points in the meet.
Nicole D'Angelo (Readfield, Maine) highlighted the Gulls with first place performances in the pole vault (9-2.5) and shot put (38-0.25). Both of D'Angelo's marks were also school records, while her toss in the shot put qualified her for NCAA Regionals.
Endicott also saw Olivia Folkes (Amston, Conn.) win the 400-meter dash in a time of 1:03.62, while Jenna Raffael (North Reading, Mass.) took home first place honors in the 100-meter hurdles in 16.36-seconds. Raffael was the only student-athlete in either the prelims or the finals of the event to break 17-seconds.
In addition to her outstanding 100m hurdles performance, Raffael placed fourth in the javelin with a school record mark of 95-feet and 2-inches.
TOP QUOTE
"I'm so proud of this team and their hard work. It was great to see a spread of points across all events. They had great energy and supported each other so much out there," said Endicott women's track and field head coach Spencer Lange. "We still have a lot of work to do but this is a huge step in the right direction and a major milestone for this young program."
OTHER ENDICOTT HIGHLIGHTS
- The Endicott 4x100-meter relay "B" team consisting of Jamie Budge (Old Tappan, N.J.), Gabrielle Morton (Peabody, Mass.), D'Angelo, and Danielle Boucher (Hampton, N.H.) finished second overall in a school record time of 53.56-seconds.
- The Gulls' 4x100-meter relay "A" team ranked fifth in a time of 54.47-seconds. Taylor Papa (Tolland, Conn.), Hevyn Pray (Rehoboth, Mass.), Julianne Sullivan (Wrentham, Mass.), and Arianna Moffatt (Essex, Vt.) comprised the relay squad.
- Emma Farrington (Essex Junction, Vt.) placed third overall in the 1,500-meter run with a school record time of 5:16.65. Farrington beat the previous school record by almost four seconds (5:19.87).
- Giana Nekitopoulos (West Springfield, Mass.) broke school records in the long jump (third, 14-9.25) and triple jump (second, 32-11.25) and ranked fourth in the 100-meter hurdles (18.03).
- Morton, Sullivan, and Kelsey Hunter (Simi Valley, Calif.) ranked sixth (13-8.75), seventh (13-6.75), and ninth (12-10.75) in the long jump, while Hunter also finished seventh (30-5.75) in the triple jump.
- Amanda Recupero (Ipswich, Mass.) was sixth overall in the 800-meter run with a school record time of 2:38.11.
- Recupero joined Folkes, Amelia Castelli (Scituate, R.I.), and Kaitlyn Callahan (Gilford, N.H.) on the third place 4x400-meter relay team (4:41.00).
- Budge and Castelli ranked second (17.36) and sixth (18.68) in the 100m hurdles.
- Castelli also finished third in the 400m hurdles, while Sabrina Moul (North Attleboro, Mass.) was ninth (1:24.32).
- Kira Charrier (Dartmouth, Mass.) posted a school record height of 4-feet 2-inches for eighth place in the high jump.
- Abigail Keim (Williston, Vt.) led a quartet of Gulls who finished in the top-10 in the 5,000-meter run with a time of 20:30.52 for second place overall.
- Lily Gillis (Marblehead, Mass.) was third (20:30.76), Haley Marek (Westhampton, Mass.) placed fourth (20:49.61), and Julia Sheetz (Waterbury, Conn.) ranked seventh (21:59.76) to round out the group in the 5,000m run.
- The 200-meter dash featured fourth (28.62), fifth (28.74), and eighth (29.04) place performances from Morton, Pray, and Sullivan, respectively.
- Meanwhile, Sullivan also was sixth in the 100-meter dash with a time of 13.93-seconds. However, in the prelims, Sullivan broke the school record in the event with a time of 13.64.
- Taylor Jordan (Saco, Maine) came in 13th overall in the discus with a toss of 76-feet 1-inch.
- Hannah Buckley (Milford, Conn.) ranked 10th in the javelin (68-1), 12th in the shot put (27-0.5), and 14th in the discus (75-0).
WHAT'S NEXT
Endicott will compete at the Penmen Relays, hosted by Southern New Hampshire University, on Saturday, April 13 at 10 AM.
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(Photo Credit - David Le '10)