Jessica Lee Wins Again; Bobcats Place Program-Best Eighth at New England Championship

Saturday, February 25

Reggie Lewis Center - Boston, MA

All Day

Quinnipiac University

New England Championships

Jessica Lee Wins Again; Bobcats Place Program-Best Eighth at New England Championship

2/25/2017 8:04:00 PM | Women's Indoor Track & Field

Lee Claims Her Second Straight New England 60m Hurdles Title with a Meet Record Time of 8.39 Seconds

By: QU Sports Information

RESULTS

BOSTON, Massachusetts – The Quinnipiac women's indoor track and field team continues to roll in their championship season as the Bobcats totaled 37 points to place a program record eighth at the 2017 New England Championships. Junior Jessica Lee (Montgomery, New Jersey) also made history on the day, scoring yet another victory in the 60m hurdles to claim her second straight New England title.

Lee continues to build on what is turning into one of the greatest individual seasons in program history as she adds a second straight New England 60m hurdles title to her resume. Breaking through the preliminary round with the fastest time in the field at 8.56 seconds, Lee made history in the finals busting through with a meet record time of 8.39. Blitzing the competition, Lee crossed the line 0.28 seconds fastest than the runner-up while she broke the meet record of 8.47 seconds set back in 2013. The 2016 MAAC Most Outstanding Track Performer has now won an incredible six 60m hurdles titles this season as she has competed in the event at seven meets, while her one non-title was a fourth place finish at the Armory Track Invite where she still managed to defeat three runners from South Carolina and two from Ohio State.

Francine Jacque (Port-au-Prince, Haiti) prolonged her momentum built-up from Friday and turned in a pair of solid performances in the 60m and 200m. Starting in the 60m dash, Jacque advanced to the finals with the sixth-fastest preliminary time (7.84) and set a new indoor personal-best with a time of 7.83 in the finals to earn her a sixth place finish. She later doubled up with another sixth place finish in the 200m with a time of 25.23 in the finals. Jacque placed for the first time at the New England Championships in both events.

The middle distance contingent running in the 800m showed very well in the finals on Saturday as Cori Reid (Old Saybrook, Connecticut) moved up considerably from her eighth-fastest time in the preliminaries, finishing third in the finals with a time of 2:14.83. Shaving more than a full second off her time from Friday, Reid moved all the way up from placing 18^th in consecutive seasons in the 800m at the New England Championships to her third place finish today.

Medinah Nabadduka (Windsor, Connecticut) also made some personal history in the 800m as she placed for the first time at the New England Championships, earning a fifth place finish while clocking in at 2:15.13.

The 800m event continued to be a productive one for the Bobcats as the 4x800m relay group of Reid, Darby Ginley (Warwick, New York), Alyson Caron (Andover, New Jersey) and Meghan Curtin (Cohocton, New York) combined to finish with a time of 9:22.64 that earned Quinnipiac a fourth place finish out of 15 teams in the event.

Another Bobcat to set a new personal-best on the day was Christina Barbaro (Elk Township, New Jersey) in the 500m as she crossed the line in 1:16.73 in the finals to earn her fifth place in the event. Barbaro set a new personal record in the event in consecutive days after running her preliminary time in 1:16.97 as she places at the New England Championships for the first time in her career.

Mikah Maples (Mowequa, Illinois) made some history in the shot put, placing eighth with a throw of 12.31m. Maples became the first Bobcat in program history to place in the shot put at the New England Championships.

Freshman Kaitlin Bakas (South Windsor, Connecticut) battled through injury and put together an impressive performance in the 3000m, finishing in eighth place and earning one point for the Bobcats in the team standings. Gutting it out over the distance event, Bakas managed to beat her previous personal best in the 3000m by more than six seconds as she crossed the line in 10:12.71.

Despite not placing, Kaitlyn Hebert (Glastonbury, Connecticut) still ran a very solid one mile run as she easily set a new personal best with a time of 5:06.76 that gave her 16^th place out of 31 competitors. Maria Ricalton (Canton, New York) set a new personal best time in the 3000m as she clocked in at 10:33.31 to claim 15^th out of 30. Katey Veron (Franklin Square, New York) came close to placing in the 5000m as she crossed the line in a personal best 18:10.51 to claim 13^th place out of 28.

The final meet in championship season looms next weekend as the Bobcats will field competitors at the ECAC Championships held at the Boston University Track Center from March 4-5.