Dedham, MA --- Sophomore Mercedes Arnold (Mira Loma, CA) had a leap of 5.57 meters in the long jump to take home a top finish at the NEICAAA Championship's on Friday afternoon. On the first day the Lancers were also paced by a couple of strong sprint performances at the meet held at Northeastern University's Solomon Field that featured competition from Divisions I, II and III.
Arnold was 0.5 meters away from eclipsing the school record that she set two weeks ago at the MASCAC Championships when she provisionally qualified for the NCAA Division III Outdoors. As of today Arnold is ranked 18th on the latest performance list.
Second-year Nichole Lemelin (Beverly, MA) notched 15th in the 100 meters (12.97) and 29th in the 200 (26.69) while freshman Rose Mathieu (Somerville, MA) sprinted to 21st in the 100 (13.03) as she had the same finish in the long jump (4.89m).
On the second day of competition, the Lancers finished with 12 points to tie for 21st place with Amherst. Arnold picked up where she left off and chalked up seventh for All-New England honors with a jump of 11.14 meters. Junior Andrea Ouellette (Salisbury, MA) also tallied 15th in the triple jump (10.55m).
The 4x100 relay team of Arnold, Lemelin, sophomore Sarah Rafferty (Uxbridge, MA) and freshman Alicia Ryan (Townsend, MA) also eclipsed the school mark of 49.17 for 10th place which was set last week at the Division III New Englands (49.62).
Worcester State hits the track again next week at the ECAC Championships hosted by Springfield College.