
Norton, MA ---Abby McAdams (Montville, CT) posted a school record in the pentathlon as her score along with the WPI women's track & field distance medley relay team's time, this past Friday and Saturday at the Wheaton Invitational, landed in the Division III top 10. The meet also included Bridgewater State, Colby, Newbury, UMass Boston.
McAdams began the weekend with a school-record 2,911 points in the pentathlon, which ranks sixth in the country as of Sunday evening. On Saturday the DMR foursome of Maggie LaRoche (Silverlake, NH), Sydney Packard (Georgetown, MA), Lea Strangio (Watertown, MA) and Emily Newman (Easton, MA) posted the nation's third-best time with a 12:38.36. Faye Gauthier (West Warwick, RI) stood out in the field events, earning bronze in the weight throw with a distance of 51-1.5, an effort that moved her up from 36th in the country to No. 28. Aleye Momodu (Milford, MA) and Kirsten Herchenroder (Plaistow, NH), meanwhile, finished back-to-back in eighth (38-5.5) and ninth place (38-1.5).
Callie Schadt (Brewster, MA) won the 3,000-meter with WPI taking all three medals and Taylor Flaxington (Lincoln, RI) winning the pole vault as the Boynton Hillers swept the top five spots. Schadt handily won the 3,000-meter run with a time of 10:56.82, while teammates Emily Newman (Easton, MA) and Jasmine Higuera Castillo (Riverside, CA) joined her on the podium, finishing in second (11:03.59) and third (11:06.81).
Flaxington led an impressive display in the pole vault, with a winning mark of 9-6.25. Following right behind her were Sarah Muse (Portsmouth, NH) at 9-6.25 Xandria Korn (Woodinville, WA) at 9-0.25, Carlisle Ferguson (Harvard, MA) at 9-0.25 and then Heather Selmer (Weathersfield, VT) at 8-0.75 to round out the top five.
The Engineers other relay group of Packard, Strangio, Sara Velleca (Woodbury, CT) and Kimberlee Kocienski (Schaghticoke, NY) earned fourth place in the 4x400-meter relay after clocking in with a time of 4:09.30.
Apart from WPI's 3,000-meter exploits, Steffany Halfrey (Hubbardston, MA) turned in the team's best individual performance in the track events, taking second in mile with a time of 5:35.89, Ari Rozen (Carver, MA) came in ninth (5:55.14) and Carly Neeld (Williston, VT) in 10th place (6:02.94).
Kocienski took bronze in the 400-meter with a DIII NE meet-qualifying time of 1:01.88, while LaRoche finished fifth (1:03.57), Seneca Warren (Westchester, NY) seventh (1:05.51) and Marguerite Carey (Middleboro, MA) ninth (1:07.27) to give the Engineers four runners among the top 10 finishers.
Cole Godzinski (North Reading, MA) crossed the finish line fourth in a competitive 60-meter hurdles race with a time of 9.42 that qualified her for the DIII NE meet.
In the 60-meter dash, Velleca led WPI in sixth place (8.27 seconds), while Taylor Teed (Boxford, MA) (8.31), Elizabeth Walfield (Bath, ME) (8.53) and Michelle Gencorelli (Andover, MA) (8.55) took the final three spots in the top 10. Velleca was also the Engineers' top runner in the 200-meter, finishing seventh (27.35), while Walfield followed in eighth place (27.54) and Teed in 10th (27.83).
Emma MacIntyre (Grand Island, NY) rounded out the top 10 finishers in the track events, snagging eighth place in 800-meter with a time of 2:33.51.
Momodu also came in seventh in the shot put (32-2.25), while Korn took fifth in the high jump, clearing 4-9.75, and Teed claimed eighth place in long jump with a distance of 14-9.25.
WPI resumes its schedule on Saturday at the Middlebury Invitational in Vermont.