Jasper The Lead In Brockton Enterprise Friday's College Notebook
New Orleans, LA --- The Worcester State women's outdoor track and field team has earned their first USTFCAAA Division III National Rankings of the season as they are slotted 24th in the third poll.
It marks the first time that the squad has been ranked since April 25, 2012 when the Lancers peaked at 20th.
With 43.88 points, the Blue and Gold join five other New England schools in the poll including Williams (4th - 95.74), Tufts (12th - 69.65), MIT (15th - 55.24), Wheaton (19th - 51.16) and Middlebury (21st - 50.56).
Worcester State is propelled by the outanding efforts this season by senior standout Briana Wise (Worcester, MA/Doherty), sophomore Alyssa Jasper (Rockland, MA) and the 4x100 meter relay team.
En-route to earning Co-MASCAC Field Athlete of the Week accolades, Jasper heaved a toss of 141-0 feet in the javelin (42.97m) for the fifth longest mark in Division III at the UMass Amherst Minutemen Invitational.
Jasper, who made the NCAA Division III Outdor Championship field as a freshman (131-1/41.81m), looks to return to the National meet at the end of May at Wisconsin-Lacrosse.
Wise, who captured All-American accolades last year as the National Runner-Up in the 200 meters, clocked a blistering time of 25.12 for the 15th fastest time in Division III this past weekend at UMass Amherst.
Anchored by Wise, the 4x100 meter relay of junior Christy Deininger (N. Attleboro, MA) along with sophomore teammates Liz Bodensieck (Raynham, MA) and Brittany Hodgerney (Leicester, MA) look to return to the NCAA Outdoor Championships.
Two weeks ago the squad teamed for the 22nd best time in the event (48.93) and on May 4, they will get their chance to defend their 4x100 Division III New England crown from a year ago at Colby.
The Lancers will compete this week at MIT as a warm-up to the MASCAC/Alliance Championships on April 27 at Bridgewater State.