Women's Outdoor Track Ranked 5th In Opening USTFCCCA New England Composite Index

Medford, MA --- Senior Briana Wise (Worcester, MA/Burncoat) anchored a trio of top three finishes with second in the 100 meters (12.57) and third in the 200 meters (25.54) to qualify for the Open New England Championships in both events as she helped lead Worcester State to fourth-place at the Tufts Invitational this afternoon.

The hosting Jumbos won the meet with 124 points followed by Boston College (80), Northeastern (71), the Lancers score of 66.5 and Harvard finished fifth (57).

Sprinting with Wise for the second-place time in the 4x100 was junior Christy Deininger (N. Attleboro, MA) along with sophomore classmates Brittany Hodgerney (Leicester, MA) and Liz Bodensieck (Raynham, MA) who posted a split of 48.93.

For her efforts, Wise was selected MASCAC Track Athlete of the Week as her 200 time is currently 15th in the NCAA Division III and her 100 split is tied for 23rd.

Sophomore Alyssa Jasper (Rockland, MA) posted the lone first-place finish with an Open New England standard in the javelin (134-9/41.07m) for the eighth-best mark in the nation. Jasper was also named MASCAC Field Athlete of the Week.

Deininger also placed sixth in the 100 (12.97) and seventh in the 100 meter hurdles (16.05) while Hodgerney clocked fifth in the 100 (12.95).

Both posted better times in the trials as Deininger put up an Open New England time (15.62) and Hogerney qualified for the Division III New England Championship split (12.88).

Junior Megan Taylor (Danvers, MA) and sophomore Alexandria McMahon (E. Longmeadow, MA) came in third (1:06.13) and fourth (1:08.09), respectively, in the 400 meter hurdles. Taylor's time was good enough to register her name for the ECAC Division III Championships while McMahon's was a Division III New England qualifier.

In the field, sophomore Amanda Caldarone (Danvers, MA) had a leap of fourth in the long jump (16-6.25/5.04m) to put her name on the list of Division III New England qualifiers before McMahon placed eighth (15-11.75/4.87m).

In the high jump, sophomore Cayla Leinonen (Spencer, MA) cleared fifth in the high jump (5-1/1.55m) and freshman Francesca Casasanta (Hopkinton, MA) chipped in with eighth (4-9/1.45m).

The distance corps were paced by senior Erin Donohue (Saugus, MA) who placed 5th in the 10,000 (40:07.32) to qualify for the Division III New England's for the second-straight year.

Junior Hannah Werneth (N. Yarmouth, ME) rounded out the competitors with 11th in the shot put (37-6.75/11.45m) and Jasper added 10th in the discus (109-8/33.43m) as both student-athletes earned the right to compete at the Division III New Englands in their respective events.

Next week the Blue and Gold will compete at the UMass Lowell Invitational.