Wegman Leads Blue Track & Field to Sixth at USM Invitational

PORTLAND, Maine -- Senior Elizabeth Wegman (East Sandwich, Mass.) paced a 1-2-3 Blue sweep of the Mile run to lead Wellesley College track & field to a sixth place finish on Saturday at the University of Southern Maine Invitational at the Costello Sports Complex. 

Division II Assumption College took the team title (149.50 points), with Division II Stonehill following in second (143), host Southern Maine in third (99.50), and Bates in fourth (94). Sixth-place Wellesley (44) followed fifth place Plymouth State (57) in the eleven team field. 

Wegman, sophomore Maya Bradbury (Freeport, Maine) and senior Keiko Hilmo (Saint Paul, Minn.) swept the top three spots in mile, with Wegman leading the field of 24 with a PR of 5:26.05. Wegman was just tenths of a second ahead of Bradbury's runner-up time of 5:26.25. Hilmo followed in 5:28.90 in a dominant performance for the Blue. Senior Taylor Mahlandt (Ephrata, Pa.) added a 13th place time of 5:52.84 in the event. 

Wegman, Bradbury and Hilmo amassed 24 of Wellesley's 44 points in the meet. Senior Eva Paradiso (Burlington, Vt.) added eight points with a runner-up finish in the 3000m, finishing with a time of 10:50.43. The Blue finished with two in the top-five in the 3000m, as senior Fiona Harrigian (San Marino, Calif.) took fifth, adding four points to the Blue total with a time of 11:26.54. Also competing in the 3000m for the Blue, sophomore Kaylee Hill (Hingham, Mass.) finished with a time of 12:22.15.

A day after running at the Terrier Classic in Boston, first years Dallis Kehoe (Norwell, Mass.), Kathryn Winkler (Bedford, Mass.), and Sally Richardson (Orono, Maine) teamed with classmate Madeline Morocco (Mansfield, Mass.) to earn a fourth-place time in the 4x400m Relay. The first year Relay team finished with a time of 4:24.35. Kehoe added a 15th place (9.70) time in the 55m Hurdles, while Richardson was 9th (28.33) and Morocco was 25th (29.73) in the 200m. 

Morocco added a 21st place time in the 55m dash (8.12) on the day, finishing three spots behind sophomore teammate Arianna Sablad (Colorado Springs, Colo.), who was the Blue leader in the event with an 18th place time of 8.07. Senior Josephine Kim (Orange County, Calif.) was 26th in 8.28 seconds and added a mark of 4.39m in the Long Jump. First year Ariel Traver (Palo Alto, Calif.) was 17th in the triple jump (9.49m).

Senior Crystalina Guo (Montgomery, N.J.) earned a sixth place finish with a PR in the Weight Throw, earning a mark of 13.16m to lead the Blue. Guo was also 12th in the Shot with a mark of 10.04m. First year Emily Doyle (Mobile, Ala.) added a 15th place (10.94m) finish in the weight throw, while junior Abigail Parakoyi (Houston, Texas ) was 19th (10.50m) and junior Shania Baldwin (Houston, Texas) was 25th (9.21m). In the shot, Baldwin took 31st (8.29m) and Parakoyi was 33rd (8.10m).

Wellesley track & field continues the season in two weeks at the Tufts Cupid Challenge on February 8.