NEW BRITAIN, Conn. – Jane Leighton raced to a sizable victory to be crowned a champion in the women's steeplechase on the final day of the New England Championships, Saturday at Veterans Stadium. The Vermont men took home hardware with a third-place finish in the team competition. Leighton and the UVM women finished in fifth place.
RELATED LINKS
Results: Men | Women
COACH'S QUOTE
"Tremendous team effort this weekend," said head coach
Matt Belfield. "I am so pleased that our men earned the third-place plaque. So many men contributed points – some for the first time. Just so thrilled for our seniors to go out this way. The women performed above their seeds as well. Jane's win was phenomenal and
Sonia John's new school record again today shows even more promise for her to be at a national level next year. Again, so grateful for the efforts of everyone on this team – to have persevered through and extraordinarily challenging 14 months to get to this point. I'm honored to be associated with these athletes and coaches."
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Leighton won by an outstanding margin of 30.31 seconds. Teammate Phoebe Koski registered a time of 11:15.75 for fourth place.
- John bested her previous-best mark and school record for the second consecutive day with a 400-meter time of 54.48 to finish second place. In the 200-meter dash, John posted a time of 25.35 seconds for fifth-place.
- Alex Parasky carried his Day 1 decathlon lead into Saturday and turned in a second-place finish with 6,633 points. The graduate student was second in today's javelin (48.84m) and 110-meter hurdles (15.40s). DJ Snide finished sixth with a score of 6,036 points.
- Lauren Triarsi was third in the women's heptathlon with a score of 4,362 points. The sophomore had the top mark in today's long jump (5.43m).
- Wyatt Matyas and Ross Elkort cracked the top three in the men's steeplechase with times of 9:26.38 and 9:32.44 to finish second and third, respectively. Patrick Daly (9:52.27) and Joe Joyce (9:54.53) finished sixth and eighth, respectively.
- Alex Siaton led the Catamounts in the men's 400-meter dash with a time of 48.35 for third place. Jake Bair (48.68s) and Alex Warner (49.30s) finished fifth and sixth, respectively.
- Tyler Marshall was fourth in the men's 800-meter run with a time of 1:52.05.
- Mia Grasso posted a fourth-place finish in the women's 400-meter-hurdles with a mark of 1:03.17.
- Chris Gish logged a seventh-place finish in the men's 1500-meter dash with a time of 3:54.54.
- The men's 4x800-meter relay team of Brennan Huff, Bill Comstock, Marshall, and Gish posted a time of 7:41.56 for second place.
- Vermont's men's 4x400-meter relay team was third as Bair, Warner, Eli Ogilivie, and Siaton combined for a time of 3:17.96. Mary Diestel, Grasso, Charlotte Crum, and Sonia John logged a mark of 3:55.75 for fourth place on the women's side.
ALL-NEW ENGLAND
