SPRINGFIELD, Mass. - Six Worcester State University men's and women's track & field student-athletes punched their tickets to the New England Championships on Saturday as the Lancers competed in the Yellow Jacket Invitational hosted by American International College.

Throwers Eddy Acuna (Newton, Mass.) and Marcus Vieira (Peabody, Mass.) each qualified in the discus with throws of 42.05 and 41.83 meters to finish fourth and fifth respectively. Acuna also qualified in the shot put with an event-winning heave of 14.33 meters, while Vieira qualified for New Englands by winning the hammer throw with a 52.85 meter toss.

Also qualifying for New Englands was Lancer thrower Anthony Christo (Peabody, Mass.), who qualified with a 46.14 meter throw in the hammer, good for third place overall. A time of 11.19 seconds and a first place finish in the 100 meter dash was good to send sophomore John Ojukwu (Stow, Mass.) to New Englands, as was a fourth place finish and time of 15.77 in the 110 meter hurdles for classmate Abdulrazak Frederick (Shrewsbury, Mass.).

On the women's side, Stephanie McFadries (Burlington, Mass.) qualified for New Englands with a throw of 36.08 meters in the javelin, landing her in third place overall on the day.

Jumper Ryan Connolly (Braintree, Mass.) had himself a day on Saturday for the Lancers, winning the high jump by clearing the bar at 1.85 meters. Senior Scott Page (Winchendon, Mass.) was sharp in the pole vault as he cleared 3.95 meters for a fourth place finish, while freshman Kyle Haley (Mansfield, Mass.) and Connolly finished in sixth and seventh place respectively in the triple jump at 12.78 and 12.66 meters.

For the women, junior Abigail MacGregor (Salem, N.H.) was the fourth place finisher overall in the 100 meter dash, crossing the line in 13.05 seconds. She was also the sixth place finisher in the 200 meter dash at a time of 26.73. In the 400 meter run, junior Rachel Stier (Mansfield, Mass.) finished in seventh place with a time of 1:02.41.

Sophomore Amanda Turner (Windham, Maine) and junior Lauren Waters (Mansfield, Mass.) finished in seventh and eighth respectively in the long jump. Turner cleared a distance of 4.32 meters, while Waters turned in a jump of 4.27 meters. In other field events, freshman Riley Sanderson (Leominster, Mass.) finished in seventh place in the javelin with a throw of 33.16 meters, while junior Carina Frontiero (Ipswich, Mass.) finished ninth in the shot put at 9.45 meters.

Worcester State will be back in action next weekend at the Penmen Relays hosted by Southern New Hampshire University.

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