South Hadley, MA --- The WPI women's track and field team kicked off competition at the 2025 NEWMAC Championships sitting in sixth place with a series of strong performances Friday at Mount Holyoke's Kendall Sports & Dance Complex.
 
Senior Piper O'Connell (North Attleboro, MA) and junior Katy Gorden (Wayne, NJ) delivered key points for the Engineers in the javelin throw. O'Connell launched a throw of 35.85m to finish third, while Gorden placed fourth with a toss of 35.49m, helping WPI to an early sixth-place spot in the team standings.
 
Freshman Rayna Thompson (Brentwood, NH) highlighted the track action, qualifying for the finals of the 100-meter dash with a time of 12.70 seconds. Elsewhere, junior Corryn Fisher (Swansea, MA) posted a 15.61 to advance to the 100-meter hurdles final, while senior Olivia Spielberger (Hingham, MA) also moved on, clocking a 16.50.
 
In distance action, sophomore Grace Connell (Far Hills, NJ) competed in the 10,000-meter run, finishing 17th with a time of 45:24.35.
 
The Engineers picked up top-10 finishes in the jumps, as junior Lydia Beers (Norfolk, CT) leapt 4.86m to place 10th in the long jump, and sophomore Drew Perry (North Andover, MA) cleared 2.95m to finish 10th in the pole vault.
 
Senior Olivia Spielberger (Hingham, MA) added a 14th-place finish in the long jump at 4.73m, and sophomore Charly Painter (Littleton, MA) was 11th in the pole vault with a clearance of 2.80m.
 
In the hammer throw, freshman Sydney Shilts (Flemington, NJ) recorded a mark of 33.88m to place 12th overall, while freshman Catherine Polo (Huntingtown, MD) added a mark of 25.94m.
 
In the heptathlon, freshman Caetlyn Embree (Sherborn, CT) had a standout day, placing second in the 100-meter hurdles (17.16) and third in the 200 meters (28.49). She also cleared 1.35m in the high jump and tossed 7.07m in the shot put to sit in second place heading into the final day of competition.
 
Sitting fifth and sixth overall, freshman Emma Conway (Suffield, CT) and junior Lauren Coutu (Baldwinville, MA) also delivered consistent efforts across all four heptathlon events. Coutu posted the third-best mark in the high jump at 1.38m and Conway finished second in the shot put with a throw of 9.33m.
 
At the end of the first day, WPI sits in sixth place with 11 points. MIT leads the standings with 92 points, followed by Springfield (26.5) and Coast Guard (18.5). Wheaton is fourth with 16 points, while Mount Holyoke rounds out the top five with 12. Wellesley (10), Smith (6), Babson (2), and Salve Regina (1) complete the team rankings after Day One.
 
The 2025 NEWMAC Championships continue Saturday at Mount Holyoke, with the women resuming competition at 11:00am.
 
Results