Men's & Women's Track & Field Both Claim GNAC Championships

WESTON, Mass. - For the first time ever in the history of Regis (Mass.) Athletics, the Pride are Great Northeast Athletic Conference champions. Both the Regis men's and women's track and field teams took home the title in the first ever GNAC Championships on Sunday afternoon, held at Regis Stadium.

The Pride men tallied 229 points on the day to earn the championship, defeating Saint Joseph's (Me.) with 170 points, Emmanuel College with 132, and Lasell College with 47 points.

The Pride women finished the day with 238 points, edging out Saint Joseph's (Me.) with 150 points, Emmanuel with 149, Lasell with 24, and Suffolk University with 19.

The Regis women's team won eight of the meet's 21 events, including three of the four throwing events. Sophomore ChiChi Akanegbu (North Easton, Mass.) won both the hammer throw and shot put, with senior Kate Cowden (Wilmington, Mass.) taking the victory in the discus with a throw of 36.09m. In all, the Pride took 14 of the 15 top-five positions in the three events. Other wins for the Pride came in the long jump and triple jump, both by junior Fatima St. Hilaire (Danvers, Mass.), the 5000 meter run by sophomore Maddie Boucias (Buckland, Mass.), and a pair of relays. The team of St. Hilaire, Cassandra Froio (Tewksbury, Mass.), Payton Fitzgerald (Danielson, Conn.), and Bernice Boateng (Danielson, Conn.) won the 4x100 relay for the Pride, while St. Hilaire, Froio, Fitzgerald, and Abby Flaherty (Worcester, Mass.) teamed up for a win in the 4x400 relay. 

The women from Emmanuel College won seven events on the day, with three Saints picking up a pair of wins. Freshman Chelsea Smith (Manchester, Conn.) picked up wins in both the 200 meter and 400 meter dashes, with classmate Pearl Vercruysse (Oak Bluffs, Mass.) winning the 800 and 1500 meter races. Sophomore Jacquelyn Schneider (Weymouth, Mass.) won both the javelin and the 400 meter hurdles on the day, while the Saints rounded out the day with a win in the 4x800 meter relay.

The Saint Joseph's women picked five wins on the day, including the very first of the morning in the 10,000 meter run. Sophomore Marisa Quirion (Gardiner, Maine) got the win in the event, running a time of 46:07.56. Freshman Meghan Glisson (Merrimack, N.H.) was the winner of the 3000 meter steeplechase on the day, giving the Monks wins in each of the first two women's events run. Also winning for the Monks on Sunday were Lillian Bissett (Jefferson, Maine) in the 100 meter hurdles, Alysha Smith (Jaffrey, N.H.) in the high jump, and Emma Belyea (Caribou, Maine) in the pole vault.

The Suffolk University women's team picked up its sole win of the day in the 100 meter dash, as Mariama Kamara (Chelsea, Mass.) ran a time of 12.77 to land a GNAC crown. The Lasell women didn't pick up any wins on the day, but its 4x400 relay team finished less than two seconds behind the Pride for second place, while freshman Kylie Danier (Waltham, Mass.) finished third in the 100 meter dash.

Like their female counterparts, the Regis men picked up a meet-high eight victories en route to the GNAC Championship. Seven different Pride athletes picked up individual wins, as well as Hank Jean-Jacques (Fairfield, Conn.), Matt Malone (West Roxbury, Mass.), Prince Boakye (Worcester, Mass.), and Fred Mathieu (Miami, Fla.) combining for the win in the 4x100 meter relay. Malone picked up the win in the 110 meter hurdles for the Pride, with Mathieu adding a win in the 400 meter run to be the only two Pride men to win a pair of events on the day. The hosts also got wins from freshman Sean Toomey (Salem, N.H.) in the 800 meter, sophomore Jovan Sematimba (Burlington, Mass.) in the 1500 meter, junior Shane Romanchick (Trumbull, Conn.) in the 10,000 meter, Daniel LaFlamme (Watertown, Conn.) in the shot put, and Cole Anderson (Falmouth, Maine) in the discus.

The Saint Joseph's men finished second on the day, despite winning one event fewer than the third place Saints of Emmanuel College. The Monks much of their success in the field events, picking up wins by junior Marshall Berninghausen (Brasher Falls, N.Y.) in the hammer throw and freshman Anthony Blatus (Dracut, Mass.) in the javelin. The Monks also got wins in the high jump by freshman Noah Hutchinson (Southwest Harbor, Maine), the pole vault by sophomore Andrew D'Ovidio (Walpole, Mass.), and in the 4x800 meter relay.

The Emmanuel men's team got narrowly edged by the Monks, but picked up six wins on the day to rank second at the meet. Emmanuel got the day started with a big win by sophomore Patrick Carty (Sweden, Maine), who qualified for New Englands in the 3000 meter steeplechase with a time of 10:04.9. Carty would also be part of the Saints 4x400 meter relay team that would win later in the afternoon. Senior Francisco Tavares (Boston, Mass.) picked up a pair of victories on the day for the Saints, winning both the 200 meter dash and the long jump. The triple jump and the 400 meter hurdles championships were also claimed by the Saints on Sunday, with freshmen Aidan Sitler (Wethersfield, Conn.) and Trevor Hajj (Gilmanton, N.H.) picking up the wins respectively.

Lasell rounded out the day with a pair of victories on the men's side. In the 100 meter dash, junior Ben Lane (Rutland, Vt.) got the win with a time of 11.39, while junior Ryan Dabala (North Granville, N.Y.) got the win in the 5,000 meter race.

The winners of each event were named to the GNAC All-Conference team in a ceremony following the meet.

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