WILLIMANTIC/FAIRHAVEN, Conn. (April 18-19, 2025) – The Beacons' track and field teams set 19 new collegiate records across a split weekend of action at the Eastern Connecticut State University Bonnie Edmondson Classic and the Yale University Mark Young Invitational. The standout weekend included two new school records from junior NCAA DIII Indoor Champion Aryianna Garceau (Dalton, Mass.) and junior Neville Richards (Wellington, Fla.) in an all-around strong showing leading into the 2025 Little East Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships next weekend at UMass Dartmouth.
Bonnie Edmondson Classic Highlights:
In the women's shot put, Katie Tuohy (Groton, Conn.) led a trio of Beacons with an eighth-place throw of 10.39m (34 ft, 1.25 in.), topping a field of 29 competitors.
Olutemi Alofe paced three Beacons on the men's side with a sixth-place finish out of 34, tossing 12.88m.
Women's discus saw a huge lifetime PR from senior Alessandra Albano (Haverhill, Mass.), who placed seventh out of 35 with a 29.87m throw, surpassing her previous best by over two meters. She now ranks 12th in the conference, qualifying for the LEC Championship meet for the first time in her career.
Richards led the men's discus squad with a new PR of 37.29m (122 ft, 4 in.), good for sixth place. Alofe followed with a personal-best 32.02m (105 ft, 1 in.).
Tuohy also led the Beacons in the hammer throw, finishing 10th with a new PR of 35.76m.
Richards broke his own school record in the men's hammer with a new personal best of 46.69m (153 ft, 2 in.), placing seventh and moving to seventh in the LEC rankings.
In the women's 100m dash, four Beacons set new PRs. Garceau led the way with a 12.13s finish to place first overall out of 45 runners. She now leads the LEC in the 100m and ranks sixth in NCAA Division III New England. Senior Elizabeth Roy (Abington, Mass.) also hit a new PR of 12.97s to finish sixth and rank 10th in the LEC, qualifying for the conference championship.
On the men's side, Derrick Touba (Yonkers, N.Y.) placed 10th in 11.29s, ranking 15th in the LEC. First-year Alex Martins (Malden, Mass.) PR'd at 11.76s, and Prabhdeep Bassan (Northampton, Eng.) set personal bests in both the 100m and 200m dashes.
Harleen Bassan (Northampton, Eng.) placed 10th in the women's 400m dash at 66.68s.
In the men's 400m, Hugo Dos Santos (Cambridge, Mass.) led three Beacons with a new PR of 53.26s for 13th out of 26. Daniel Thomas followed with a PR of 56.22s, his second PR of this season, now dropping his time by a total of three seconds.
Abigail Churchill (Attleboro, Mass.) set a new PR in the women's 800m dash at 2:58.19, breaking three minutes in the event for the first time in her career.
Junior Shea Roche (Weymouth, Mass.) debuted in the women's 1500m dash with a third-place, collegiate-best time of 5:02.99. Robert Cannon (Quincy, Mass.) also debuted in the men's 1500m and set a new collegiate record of 4:29.70, finishing 10th out of 28.
Senior Grace Colon (West Roxbury, Mass.) took second in the 3000m run with a new PR of 11:06.17, surpassing her indoor best of 11:20.62. For the men's squad, senior Sebastian BienAime (Brockton, Mass.) set a new PR of 12:08.07 in the 3000m.
Ryan Meacham (Trumbull, Conn.) PR'd in the long jump with a 6.43m (21 ft, 1.25 in.) leap to take seventh overall.
In the men's 200m, Melvin Wiltshire (Boston, Mass.) led three Beacons with a time of 23.01s, placing 11th.
The men's 4x100m relay team of Touba, Justin Riley (Weymouth, Mass.), Martins, and Wiltshire ran a season-best 43.97s.
Mark Young Invitational:
Junior Jacqueline Earner (Abington, Mass.) joined Garceau at the highly competitive Mark Young Invitational.
Earner competed in the 800m dash, finishing 12th out of 25 and just 0.27s off her collegiate best.
Garceau competed in both the 100m hurdles and 200m dash. In the hurdles, she smashed her season best with a 13.80s finish to take first overall, tying the UMass Boston school record set in 1989. She now leads all of NCAA Division III in the 100m hurdles.
Garceau wasn't done. In the 200m, she set another PR of 24.34s to win the event, claim the top mark in DIII New England, and move up to 11th nationally.
She now leads the LEC in three events, setting up a potential triple All-LEC First Team showing at the 2025 LEC Outdoor Championships. Nationally, she ranks first in the 100m hurdles and ninth in the 200m.
UMass Boston currently has 20 qualifiers (eight men, twelve women) ranked in the top-16 in their respective events, entering them in next week's championships with an opportunity to represent UMass Boston among the LEC's best.
--FOR THE TIMES--
