NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. – The Sacred Heart University women's track and field team sits in fourth place after day one of the 2023 Northeast Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships on Saturday afternoon in North Andover, Mass.

The Pios tallied 38.5 points as a team this afternoon, led by two individual victories. SHU leads fifth-place Central Connecticut by 11.5 points while trailing third-place Stonehill by two. 

Pacing the Pioneers was Abbie Mokwuah, who won the shot put and placed 10th in the hammer throw. The graduate student tallied a throw of 12.98m in the shot put to take the gold while recording a mark of 38.62m in the hammer. She earned her second career NEC gold medal after taking the weight throw in the indoor championships in 2022.

Joining Mokwuah in the winning circle was Jenna Engels, who took the top spot in the pole vault. The sophomore posted a personal-record mark of 3.65m to claim the victory this afternoon. 

Angela Kaiser also had a stellar afternoon, finishing one spot shy of the podium in fourth in the 10,000 meters. In her first time running at this distance, the graduate student clocked a time of 38:16.50. 

Madeline Archangelo joined Mokwuah in the top six of the shot put by placing sixth with a throw of 11.66m, which is a new PR for the senior.

The Pioneers had three competitors finish in the top nine of the long jump. Erin Lavelle paced the group in sixth with a PR jump of 5.47m, edging teammate Magdalena Brogioli in seventh with her PR of 5.42m. Finally, Kaylee Stenderowicz (5.32m) rounded out the SHU contingent in ninth. 

In addition to Engels' win in the pole vault, Jennifer Pasram and Erin Dunn each finished in the top nine of the event. Pasram cleared 3.20m to tie for seventh, while Dunn tied a PR with a mark of 3.05m to take ninth. 

The Pioneers' 4x800 relay team of Emily Raymond, Kelly Parker, Alisha Stadnicki, and Keegan Pepin placed fifth with a time of 9:52.78.

In addition to their strong finals performances today, a handful of Pioneers did well in prelim events. Both Stadnicki and Jessica Pigott qualified for the 1,500-meter finals tomorrow. Nicole Szilagyi and Archangelo earned their places in the 100m-hurdles finals. Jada Alston will compete in the 100m finals tomorrow after qualifying fifth today. Ava Srinivasan took a spot in the 400m-hurdle finals. 

Day two of the outdoor NEC Championships is set to begin tomorrow at 9:30 a.m.