DARTMOUTH, Mass. - The Worcester State University men's and women's outdoor track & field teams both finished in the top six Saturday at the Corsair Classic, hosted by UMass Dartmouth. The men finished in fifth place out of 20 teams, while the women finished in sixth out of 17.
Leading the way for Worcester State were Mia Rogers (North Dighton, Mass.), Marcus Vieira (Peabody, Mass.), and Abdulrazak Frederick (Shrewsbury, Mass.), who all won events on the day. Rogers won the women's 10,000 meter run by nearly four minutes, running a time of 38:21.41. Frederick was the winner of the men's 110 meter hurdles Saturday, running a time of 15.91 seconds, while Vieira came out on top in the discus throw with a toss of 44.08 meters.
Two Lancers were among the top four finishers in the women's 100 meter dash, led by sophomore Bernice Mensah (Worcester, Mass.), who finished second with a time of 13.13, and followed by senior Abigail MacGregor (Derry, N.H.) who finished fourth at 13.31 seconds. The women's 4x400 meter relay team, consisting of Amanda Turner (Windham, Maine), Rachel Stier (Mansfield, Mass.), Emily Finnegan (Ashland, Mass.), and Brenda Thomas (Worcester, Mass.), also finished second at the meet, with a time of 4:16.93, missing the top spot by less than a second.
Other highlights for the Worcester State women included a fourth place finish from sophomore Kyra Siano (North Attleboro, Mass.) in the 800 meter run (2:36.07), seventh place finishes from Stier in the 400 meter run (1:02.27) and freshman Riley Sanderson (Leominster, Mass.) in the javelin (33.32 meters), and an eight place finish from freshman Ryann Molinari (Grafton, Mass.) in the 1,500 meter run (5:08.69.).
On the men's side, Vieira's win in the discus was one of a handful of strong performances by Lancer throwers on the day. Eddy Acuna (Newton, Mass.) finished right behind Vieira in third place in the discus with a throw of 41.08 meters. Vieira finished second on the day in the hammer throw to round out his strong day, with a heave of 54.69 meters. Senior Anthony Christo (Peabody, Mass.) finished fourth in the event with a throw of 46.23 meters. Acuna and Christo finished in fourth and sixth place respectively in the shot put with heaves of 14.57 and 13.71 meters. Rounding out the top throws for Worcester State was freshman Colin Brennan (Newbury, Mass.), who cleared 47.05 meters in the javelin to finish in eighth place.
Worcester State had two more fourth place finishes in field events, as senior Markiesh Harmon (Leominster, Mass.) cleared 1.85 meters in the high jump and senior Scott Page (Winchendon, Mass.) cleared 3.80 meters in the pole vault.
On the track, Frederick didn't just stop with his performance in the 110 hurdles, as he helped his 4x400 meter relay team, also comprised of Connor Ashe (East Longmeadow, Mass.), Quintyn Anderson (North Smithfield, R.I.), and Matthew Sliwoski (Worcester, Mass.), to a fifth place finish with a run of 3:44.58. Sophomore John Ojukwu (Stow, Mass.) had a pair of top-six finishes on Saturday, led by a third place finish in the 100 meter dash at 11.08 seconds. He was sixth in the 200 meter dash at 23.50 seconds. Rounding out Worcester State's top finishes on the day were freshman Drew Fottler (Chelmsford, Mass.), who finished in third in the 3,000 meter steeplechase at 10:11.92, and freshman Patrick Carleton (Tewksbury, Mass.), who finished eighth in the 1,500 meter run at 4:20.12.
The Lancers will return to action at the AIC Yellow Jackets Invitational next weekend at American International College.
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