BOSTON – Suffolk women's indoor track & field upstaged its runner-up finish from the inaugural conference championship as the Rams captured the 2022 Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) title Sunday at Boston University's Track & Tennis Center.
The Rams dethroned the first-ever league champion Emmanuel with 162 team points, 45 more points than the Saints, to grab the program's first women's indoor championship.
In the process of hoisting the team title, Suffolk saw 13 individuals and both relay teams earn a spot on the podium highlighted by five individual champions and six second-place showings. The blue-and-gold not only put together 28 personal records in the title performance, but rewrote one GNAC Championship record as well.
Caitlyn Filloramo lobbed a GNAC-best weight throw to top the podium. Her toss of 12.63 was 0.31 better than reining champion Caileigh Blackmer of Emmanuel. Sophomore Leah Doucot found her way on the podium at her first GNACs as well with a third-place showing of 11.41.
Allison Rodrigues repeated as the league's shot put champion with a 10.67-meter throw. Filloramo narrowly missed the podium with a fourth-place performance behind a 9.72-meter toss.
In the jumping events, Grace Danehy made Suffolk history as the first Ram to capture the high jump. She cleared a personal-best 1.51. Nicole DiBenedetto finished in the same spot (third) with the same height (1.46) that she did in 2020.
Lauren Wood jumped to a second-place showing in the long jump. She became the first blue-and-gold student-athlete to earn a place on the podium in the long jump after jump 4.87 meters. She was joined in the event by Lucia Seide, Julia Hunt, Grace Danehy, and Grace Dreher, all of who leaped personal bests.
Rams runners were responsible seven of Suffolk's podium finishes. Klaudia Rushi highlighted the group with a first-place performance in the 60-meter hurdles where Catherine Madden slid into second.
Amanda Walden claimed second in the 60-meter dash and 200, respectively, while Skyler Spanbauer took third in both the mile and 3000.
Jocleyn Trisciak's 400 time of 1:04.54 put the sophomore into second. Suffolk has taken second in the event in both years the championship has taken place.
Suffolk rounded out the day with a with the best 4x400 relay team comprised of Alicia Bibi, Emily Concepcion, Kylie Norelus and Erika Penney. That foursome became the first relay team in the Rams record book to win the event.
The foursome of Sarah Lawton, Spanbauer, Rushi and Alyssa Rodriguez, meanwhile, ran to a second-place showing in the Distance Medley Relay. That group was the first Suffolk quartet to compete in the event and did so in podium finish fashion.
Suffolk now will send the student-athletes who qualified to Middlebury, Vermont, next weekend, Feb. 25-26 for the New England Division III Regionals.
