BOSTON, MA (February 17, 2024)— Two individual champions, four top three finishers, and several top five finishing marks was good enough to earn the UMass Boston women's track team 68 points for third place at the Little East Conference Championships from Gorham Maine, on Saturday February 17^th.

The Beacons had three representatives in the 55m dash finals, with first-year Hialeah Foster, sophomore Aryianna Garceau, and junior Dorinda Okorji each qualified for finals after passing through preliminaries. Okorji followed up a 7.41 preliminary run with a 7.32 personal record in the finals to crown herself the 2024 LEC 55m Queen. Garceau qualified for finals with a 7.52 in preliminaries, and followed Okorji with a 7.53 in finals for fourth place and four points. Foster qualified with 7.75 in preliminaries and ran 7.87 finals.

Junior Harleen Bassan finished just beyond the scoring mark, as she represented UMass Boston in the 400m dash, and registered a 67.37 finish for seventh out of 12 competing athletes.
Sophomore Jacqueline Earner talked the women's mile for the Beacons, as she covered the distance in 5:21.27, good for second place among eight competitors and eight points towards the Beacons' third place overall finish.

Junior Grace Colon tallied six points in the 5000 run, as her new personal record of 19:07.36 was good for third place and six points. Colon drops her PR in the 5k by nearly a whole minute, going from 20:02.9 at the Suffolk Relays to now just over 19 minutes.

Garceau and sophomore Delaney Sartwell each cruised into the 55m hurdle finals with Sartwell qualifying in 10.88 seconds, with Garceau cooking in preliminaries with a 8.64. Garceau followed up preliminaries with a new LEC Championship 55m Hurdles record, 8.27 and 10 point for the Beacons through her efforts in the 55 hurdles.

The women's 4x400m relay consisted of Bassan leading off to Foster, then to Okorji to the anchor leg Colon. The Beacs took fifth of seven teams with a 4:35.98 finish, good for two points. The
Beacons also strung together a 4x800m relay team consisting of Earner as the leadoff, followed by Colon once again, then to junior Sarah Cambell, and anchored by junior Elia Velez. The Beacons picked up two more points off a fifth place finish overall, as the team registered a 10:52.78 finish.

The Beacons continued their success from the track events as they took to the field events. Okorji and Foster doubled up in the high jump, with Garceau joining the two on the long-jump runway. In the high jump, Okorji and Foster leapt to a three way tie for second place, splitting 12 points evenly, as the two cleared a 1.56 best on the day, a new PR for them both.

From the long jump runway, UMass Boston took third, fourth, and fifth for a total of 12 points. Okorji lept the greatest distance for UMass Boston, as her 5.09m (16' 8.5") was good enough to tie her PR, and earn third place good for six points. Okorji was followed up by Foster's best of 4.93m (16' 2.25") as she took fourth overall and lifted the Beacons up higher four more points. Garceau finished her efficient Championship meet with a fifth place finish from the runway off a 4.87m (15' 11.5") mark to bring home two more points for UMass Boston.

Select Beacons will continue their season from the TRACK at New Balance in Boston, Massachusetts on Sunday February 25 as qualifiers will take their competitiveness to the New England Regional meet. Stay tuned for updates on UMass Boston - Official Athletics Website (sidearmsports.com).