Champagne Wins 10,000 Meter Title on Day 1 of New England Championships

Friday, May 14

New Britain, Conn.

11 AM

University of New Hampshire

New England Championships

Champagne Wins 10,000 Meter Title on Day 1 of New England Championships

5/14/2021 10:00:00 PM | Women's Track & Field

NEW BRITAIN, Conn. – Grad student Meg Champagne (Plattsburgh, N.Y.) of the University of New Hampshire women's track & field team won the 10,000 meter title of the New England Outdoor Championships at Central Connecticut State University's Veterans Stadium on Friday.

Led by a quintet of UNH distance runners that combined to score 29 points, the Wildcats are in second place with 39.5 points following the conclusion of Day 1.

The University of Rhode Island is atop the standings with 51 points. UNH is followed by the University of Hartford (28), and then UMass and College of the Holy Cross with 25 points apiece.

The two-day New England Championships meet concludes Saturday at Veterans Stadium.

COMPLETE RESULTS

10,000 METERS
Champagne led a Wildcat quartet that totaled 23 points in the 10,000m run. Champagne crossed the finish line in 36 minutes, 20.94 seconds to win her second career New England outdoor title; she won the 5,000m in 2017. Champagne's winning time was 40.85 seconds faster than her previous best (37:01.79) recorded earlier this month at the America East Championships.

Junior Jennika Mannesto (Concord, N.H.) followed Champagne across the finish line in second place with a personal best time of 36:46.52; that mark is 35.61 seconds faster than per previous best of 37:22.13 that was also established at the conference meet earlier this month.

Senior Caroline Mahoney (Bedford, N.H.) placed sixth in 37:20.21 and was followed by classmate Althea Devereux (Jericho, Vt.) in 37:42.0.

5,000 METERS
Grad student Elisabeth Danis (Nottingham, N.H.), who entered the meet with a personal best time of 17:34.8, ran to third place in the 5,000m by crossing the finish line in 17:09.40; Danis earned six team points with her third-place effort.

Junior Sydney Rice (Brooklyn, N.Y.) shaved almost nine seconds off her personal best with a time of 18:09.73 -- her previous best was 18:18.21 – to finish in 12^th place (third in Section 1).

POLE VAULT
Sophomore Danielle Heine (Waverly, Pa.) tied for third place in the pole vault to earn 5.5 team points by clearing a height of 11 feet, 7.75 inches. Heine passed on the opening height of 10-2, then cleared each of the next three heights (10-8, 11-2, 11-775) on her first attempt.

LONG JUMP
UNH finished 7-8-9 in the long jump to earn three team points. Junior Saige Tudisco (Haverhill, Mass.) was the top 'Cat with a jump of 18-2.25 and freshman Mia Taranko (Saco, Maine) was next at 18-0.25. Junior Savannah Vartabedian (Wilbraham, Mass.) was close behind at 17-11.5.

JAVELIN
Senior Lauren Quann (Pictou, Nova Scotia) placed seventh in the javelin with a throw of 131-7 that she recorded on the second of her six attempts. Classmate Alexandra Toback (Pompton Plains, N.J.) was third in Flight 1 and 13^th overall at 116-8.

HAMMER
The Wildcats placed 9-10 in the hammer throw. Grad student Alyssa Colbert (Smithfield, R.I.) recorded her top mark of 162-5 on the fourth of six attempts to finish 1 foot, 7 inches out of a scoring position of eighth place. Junior Sarah Williams (Dover, N.H.) was the top performer in Flight 1 and finished 10^th overall with a mark of 155-8 on the first of her three throws.

100 METER HURDLES PRELIMINARIES
Junior Saige Tudisco (Haverhill, Mass.) advanced out of the 100m hurdles preliminary round with a time of 15.20 seconds. She placed second in Heat 2 and took the final qualifying spot.

200 METERS PRELIMINARIES
Junior Zakiya Scott (Brooklyn, N.Y.) ran the third fastest time in Heat 1 of the 200m preliminaries and advanced to Saturday's final with a clocking of 25.63 seconds (.06 off her personal best); Scott's time was just .13 slower than the No. 3 mark of 25.50. Classmate Kelly Hamlin (Ballston Lake, N.Y.) was also in Heat 1 and recorded a time of 26.49.

400 METERS PRELIMINARIES
Freshman Natalie Fraser (Gilford, N.H.) crossed the finish line of the 400m dash with a personal-best time of 58.75 seconds, but she did not advance to Saturday's final heat with the 10^th-fastest time of the day.