Purrier Grabs Steeple Title in Day One of Championships

Saturday, May 6

Durham, N.H.

9AM

University of New Hampshire

America East Championships, Day 1

5/6/2017 6:28:00 PM | Women's Track & Field

Results

DURHAM, N.H. – All American junior Elinor Purrier (Montgomery, Vt.) won the 3000-meter steeplechase to pace the University of New Hampshire track & field team to a first-day lead in the America East Outdoor Championships at the Reggie Atkins Track & Field Facility in Wildcat Stadium on Saturday.

Purrier took control of the race early and won in a time of 9 minutes, 56.15 seconds, more than 20 seconds ahead of the second-place finisher. Senior Laura Rose Donegan (Melbourne, Australia) took third place for the Wildcats in 10:19.43.

UNH scored 61 points on Saturday to lead the nine-team field heading into Sunday's conclusion of the event.

Binghamton is second to UNH after the first day with 38 points. Vermont is third with 35 points, Albany is fourth with 30, UMass Lowell fifth with 24, Stony Brook sixth with 19, UMBC seventh with 16, Maine eighth with 10 and Hartford ninth with one.

Albany has won the last eight America East titles.

The heptathlon opens the action Sunday at 9 a.m.

Purrier has won two of the last three America East championships in the steeplechase and the Wildcats have won three in a row. Purrier was the champ in 2015 and Donegan won last year.

Purrier and Donegan were NCAA All Americans last year in the steeplechase. Purrier finished third in the NCAA championships and Donegan was sixth.

THE DETAILS

The championships conclude Sunday.
Other than the steeplechase and 10,000 meter events, Saturday's running events were qualifiers for the finals on Sunday.
On Sunday, the decathlon and heptathlon both begin at 9 a.m. The throwing events begin at 10:30 a.m. and the running events at 11 a.m.
Admission is $10. The price for those 14 and under is $5. Admission is free for UNH students and it's $2 for other students.
Fans should enter through Gate A, under the stadium's videoboard/scoreboard.
UNH is hosting the event for the fourth time and first since 2010.

UP NEXT

The New England Championships are set for May 12 and 13 at Williams College.
The East Preliminary round of the NCAA Championships is set for May 25, 26 and 27 at the University of Kentucky.
The NCAA Championships are June 6 through June 10 at the University of Oregon in Eugene.

MEET RESULTS
Among the other top finishers and qualifiers for the Wildcats on Saturday:

Junior Danielle Gajewski (Danville, N.H.) was first among qualifiers in the 800 in 2:12.25.
Sophomore Shannon Murdock (Exeter, N.H.) led a group of four Wildcats qualifying for Sunday's finals in the 1500. She was second among qualifiers in 4:36.55.
The others were senior Cassie Kruse (Hampshire, Ill.), junior Angelyn Masters (Bangor, Maine) and freshman Michaella Conery (Concord, N.H.).
Junior Emma Checovich (No. Hampton, N.H.) finished fourth in the long jump.
Koryn Joswiakowski (McDonald, Pa.) was fifth in the long jump.
The Wildcats had four scorers in the pole vault.
Junior Kari Murnane (Byram, N.J.) finished fourth at 11 feet, 7.75 inches.
Sophomore Grace Slevin (Bozeman, Mont.) was fifth, freshman Natalie Howes (Londonderry, N.H.) was seventh and sophomore Sabrina Anderson (Homewell, N.J.) was eighth.
Freshman Natalie Howes (Londonderry, N.H.) finished fourth in the javelin.
Juniors Mary Mullen (Penacook, N.H.) and Emily Wernig (Gilford, N.H.) were fourth and fifth in the hammer.
Junior Riley Gilmore (Haverhill, Mass.) finished fourth in the 10,000 meters in a time of 36:35.79.