Women's T&F Takes Second at NEC Indoor Championships

Sunday, February 18

Ocean Breeze Track & Field Center / Staten Island, N.Y.

Sacred Heart University Department of Athletics

Northeast Conference Indoor Track & Field Championships

Photo by: Steve McLaughlin

Women's T&F Takes Second at NEC Indoor Championships

2/19/2024 8:21:00 PM | Women's Track and Field

SHU claims first trophy since 2018

By: Cameron McClarren

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — For the first time since 2018, the Sacred Heart University women's track & field team took home hardware from the Northeast Conference Indoor T&F Championships, finishing in second place among the nine teams competing at the two-day meet that concluded Monday afternoon. The second-place finish marks the first time the Pioneers have taken a full-team honor from the meet since 2018 when the Pios took second place after having its string of four-straight NEC Championships from 2014-2017 halted.

The Red & White earned strong performances in all event groups, but it was a monumental 63.9 points in jumps that solidified SHU's place on the podium. In total, the Pioneers claimed five medals across four events in jumps, highlighted by three silver medals.

In the long jump, Erin Lavelle grabbed the first silver medal, setting a personal-best mark of 5.68m to etch her name on the podium. Madeline Archangelo and Lea Bourgeois also earned points for the Pios in the long jump with Archangelo taking fourth with a personal-best mark of 5.48m before Bourgeois took seventh after setting a mark of 5.36m.

The Pios grabbed a third of their jumps points in the pole vault, claiming two medals along with 22 points to keep the trophy hopes going. Jenna Engels secured SHU's second silver medal in jumps after clearing an ECAC standard mark of 3.60m while Jennifer Pasram grabbed the bronze, clearing a season-best mark of 3.50m. Sydney Abitanto grabbed fourth place in the pole vault with a season-best clearing of 3.40m while Elizabeth Apostolico and Chloe Amos rounded out the scoring for the Red & White in the event.

SHU continued to grab its fair share of accolades and points in the high jump as Magdalena Brogioli claimed her first of three silver medals during the two-day meet, claiming second place with an ECAC clearance of 1.68m, tying her personal best in the process. Bourgeois tied her personal-best of 1.59m to take fourth while Lauryn Piccirelli tied for fifth, setting a new personal-best after clearing 1.59m. Kayleigh Troy also scored for the Pioneers, tying for eighth place with a clearance of 1.51m.

SHU's final medal finish came in the triple jump as Kaylee Stenderowicz nabbed third place after setting a season-best mark of 11.75m on her fifth attempt, claiming six more points for the Pioneers. Lavelle also came in to score points for SHU, grabbing fifth-place and setting a new personal-best 11.41m on her third attempt to round out the entirety of SHU's points from the jumps portion.

Back on the track, SHU grabbed 28 points between sprints and hurdles with Brogioli highlighting the two groups with two silver-medal finishes. The Mattapoisett, Mass., native secured an ECAC qualification in the 60m dash, taking second-place with a time of 7.80 seconds before breaking the school-record in the 60m hurdles, claiming her third silver medal of the meet with an ECAC qualifying time of 8.74 seconds, breaking the previous record set by Nicole Bartosch in 2016.

Archangelo also claimed important points in both event groups, placing seventh and earning a personal-best 58.56 second finish in her first time racing the 400m before claiming fifth in the 60m hurdles. Ariyana Jackson, and the aforementioned Bourgeois, rounded out scoring for SHU in the 60m hurdles, claiming eighth and seventh, respectively, while Emily Raymond claimed sixth place in the 500m dash, setting a new personal-best in the process.

In throws, the Pioneers earned points in the women's shot put as Lauren Morales claimed seventh, setting a personal-best mark of 12.18m on her fourth attempt while Jackson took eighth place in the event, setting a mark of 12.13m on her third attempt to round out the throws scoring for SHU.

SHU claimed its second-place spot with 12 points back on the track in distance and relays. First year Grace DelGiorno took three points between two events, setting personal bests in both the mile and 3000m as the lone distance scorer for the Pios. Meanwhile, the distance medley relay of DelGiorno, Raymond, Carissa Weber and Kathleen Cronin grabbed sixth place, finishing in 12:48.90. SHU concluded the meet with its final medal of the two-day outing, claiming third in the women's 4x400m relay with the quartet of Archangelo, Bourgeois, Diamani Canuto and Tori Chorzepa finishing comfortably in 3:58.03 to conclude the meet as SHU solidified a second-place team finish for the first time in six years.

Up Next:
The Pioneers will take a short break before heading back onto the track as part of a two-meet weekend at the ECAC/IC4A Indoor T&F Championships from March 1-3, and the New England Intercollegiate Indoor T&F Championships on March 1-2. More information can be found at sacredheartpioneers.com.