The Keene State Track and Field team shattered its 15th school record of the season as the women’s 4×100 meter relay team delivered a standout performance at the New England Division III Championships on May 3.
The meet, hosted by the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut, brought together top athletes from 34 DIII programs across the region.
The Owls’ 4×100 relay team, comprised of first-years Keely Giordano, Caroline Cooper, Drea Defreitas and junior Molly Lu McKellar, ran a 49.66, breaking the previous school record of 50.00 set back in 2008. Despite finishing ninth, the group missed scoring by just 0.05 seconds.
In individual events, Defreitas posted season-best performances in both the long jump and triple jump, finishing ninth (5.29m) and 10th (11.22m), respectively, narrowly missing scoring spots.
Giordano, also a rookie, ran a 12.58 in the 100-meter dash and 26.12 in the 200, two events in which she previously broke school records earlier this season.
McKellar competed in the 100-meter hurdles, placing 16th out of 27 with a time of 15.70, while the women’s 4×800 meter relay team, comprised of sophomore Bryn Dickinson and seniors Anna O’Reilly, Sarah Ames,and Autumn Boisvert, clocked a time of 9:55.32, finishing 11th out of 23 teams, just 0.13 seconds shy of a top-10 finish. In the distance events, graduate student Maggie St. John finished 15th in the 5,000 meters with a time of 18:40.07.
On the men’s side, junior Aidan Law scored a second-place finish in the long jump, leaping 7.10 meters, just 0.01 meters behind the event winner, Anthony Paulino of Western Connecticut State University. Law’s performance adds to a stellar season that already includes a school-record mark of 7.24 meters, currently tied for 13th-best in DIII.
Junior Eden Damis added more points for the Owls, placing eighth in the triple jump with a mark of 13.75 meters, an improvement of 0.25 meters from his previous best.
The men’s 4×800 meter relay, featuring sophomores Tyler Bolaske, Jonathan MacQuarrie, Keith O’Donnell and first-year Nicholas Terranova, placed 11th with a time of 8:00.18, while first-year Jayden Baker recorded a 13.41-meter throw in the shot put.
Overall in the team standings, the Owl men scored nine points, tying for 28th place out of 36 scoring teams. The women, despite several top-15 performances, did not register team points. Fellow Little East Conference competitor University of Southern Maine placed fourth in both men’s and women’s standings.
Keene State will be back in action next weekend at the NEICAAA (All-New England) Championships, hosted by the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and the Farley Inter-Regional Extravaganza at Williams College, May 9–10.
Elías Stowell Alemán can be contacted at
estowellaleman@kscequinox.com
