Abrantes, Sands, McDonough Inacio Earn All-New England Honors at DIII New Englands
NEW LONDON, Conn. -- Two members of the Bridgewater State University women's outdoor track & field team won Division III New England championships Saturday.
By Jim Fenton
NEW LONDON, Conn. -- Two members of the Bridgewater State University women's outdoor track & field team won Division III New England championships Saturday.
Seniors Kiara Abrantes (Somerset, Mass.) and Serenity Sands (East Bridgewater, Mass.) capture the meet title in their respective events at the two-day meet, hosted by the U.S. Coast Guard Academy.
Abrantes broke her own school record in winning the 400-meter race and also earned All-New England honors in the 200-meter dash.
Graduate student Alison McDonough (Halifax, Mass.) earned All-New England honors in two events while freshman Grace Inacio (Taunton, Mass.) received the first All-New England recognition of her career.
BSU finished in seventh place out of 39 teams with 35 points.
Competitors who placed in the top eight of each event receive All-New England status.
Abrantes won the 400-meter race in a school-record 55.35 seconds, breaking her own mark of 55.65 seconds set last week at the MASCAC Championships.
Abrantes was sixth in the 200-meter run with a season-best time of 24.93 seconds. She owns the school record of 24.83 seconds set earlier this season at the BSU Bears Invitational.
Sands won the high jump event for the second straight year. The All-American high jumper had a leap of five feet, 5.25 (1.66m) inches to top the field.
McDonough finished third in the finals of the 100-meter hurdles in 14.40 seconds and took fifth in the finals of the 100-meter dash in 12.08 seconds.
McDonough now has five outdoor All-New England honors in her career.
Inacio finished seventh in the 200 with a time of 24.99 seconds. She has been the rookie of the week in the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference three times this season.
BSU will be represented at the New England Intercollegiate Amateur Athletic Association (NEICAAA) Championships next weekend.
Abrantes is currently ranked 12th in all of Division III in the 400, while Sands is 18th in the high jump and McDonough is 19th in the 100 hurdles.
The meet, featuring all three divisions, takes place Friday and Saturday at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.