BRUNSWICK, Maine – The Suffolk women's indoor track & field team sent the largest contingent of student-athletes to Brunswick, Maine over the weekend to compete at the NCAA Division III New England Regionals hosted by Bowdoin.
Juniors Mariama Kamara, Emily Manfra and Emma Weisse and rookie Allison Rodrigues made up the quartet of Rams who made the trip to Vacation Land for the regional meet, which was held Friday and Saturday. Manfra and Weisse made the second trip of their careers as the pair were the first-ever Rams to compete at the tournament a year ago with Kamara and Rodrigues qualifying for the first time in their respective events.
The foursome combined for a team score of six, good for 20th in the 26-team field. The performance, which was the first team score at the indoor regional tournament in program history, is the best finish among GNAC schools who competed.
Manfra had the best performance of the group as the Stoneham, Massachusetts, produce put together a fourth-place finish in the mile behind a time of 5:01.94. For her effort, she became the first-ever Suffolk women's indoor track & field runner to garner All-New England status.
Weisse, meanwhile, claimed all-region accolades as well with an eighth-place showing in the 3000-meter run. The Hampden, Massachusetts, local clocked in a personal-record 10:11.72.
Kamara narrowly missed the all-region honors as she was .01 second out of the top-10 in the 60-meter dash. The Chelsea, Massachusetts, native crossed the tape in 8.07 seconds to take ninth of the 15 sprinters in her first-ever regional appearance.
Rodrigues became the first-ever field event participant in Suffolk history as she competed in the shotput. The freshman from North Andover, Massachusetts, threw a distance of 10.76 meters to finish 15th out of the 20 student-athletes.
Currently, Manfra is 11th in the nation in the miler and Weisse sits 30th in the 3000-meter. Both look to lock up a spot in the NCAA DIII National Championships, as the top 20 athletes in each event as of March 3 will ship up to Boston for the NCAA Division III National Championships March 8-9.
Manfra and Weisse have one final shot to improve upon their times next weekend at the Tufts Final Qualifier, which marks the conclusion of the 2018-19 indoor regular-season.