By Jim Fenton
BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- The curtain was closed on the spring athletics season at Bridgewater State University on Memorial Day Weekend in Geneva, Ohio.
The final season of the 2024-25 academic year began with a Feb. 22 women's lacrosse game victory at Salve Regina University, and 13 weeks later, it finished with the women's 4x100 relay team earning first-team All-American honors at the NCAA Division III Outdoor Championships.
Highlights of the spring season included first-team All-American performances by graduate student Corey Stalters (Norton, Mass.) in the men's javelin and the women's 4x100 relay team of graduate students Alison McDonough (Halifax, Mass.) and Jailene Escalera (Rockland, Mass.), senior Kiara Abrantes (Somerset, Mass.) and freshman Grace Inacio (Taunton, Mass.).
In baseball, senior second baseman Scott Emerson (Peabody, Mass.) became the program's all-time leader in hits with 243 while junior Ryan Flaherty (Duxbury, Mass.) broke the single-season home run and RBI marks at BSU.
The Bears reached the NCAA tournament for a fourth straight year, hosting a regional for the second time in three seasons.
Senior lacrosse attack Camryn Gonsalves (East Bridgewater, Mass.) led the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference in goals and points.
Here's a look at the seven teams from the spring season:
MEN'S OUTDOOR TRACK & FIELD
Stalters finished his record-setting career by placing sixth in the javelin for his third All-American performance.
Stalters leaves BSU with the school record in the javelin (224 feet, 5 inches).
He finished first at the New England Intercollegiate Amateur Athletic Association meet, won the javelin and shot put at the MASCAC Championships and earned All-Division III New England honors.
The Bears won the MASCAC title for a seventh year in a row, winning 11 individual events and two relay races.
Senior Kevin McBirney (East Bridgewater, Mass.), freshman Alex Huynh (Stoughton, Mass.) and senior Chigozie Adigwe (Lowell, Mass.) also received All-NEICAAA recognition and All-Division III New England honors.
USTFCCCA All-East Region accolades went to Stalters (JAV, SP), Huynh (LJ, HJ) and Adigwe (110H).
WOMEN'S OUTDOOR TRACK & FIELD
The relay team of McDonough, Abrantes, Inacio and Escalera placed sixth on May 24 with a time of 46.33, just shy of their school record (46.30).
It was the first time a women's relay team from BSU made the NCAAs.
A day earlier, senior Serenity Sands (East Bridgewater, Mass.), Abrantes and McDonough made the Division III All-American second team in the high jump, 400 and 100 hurdles in Ohio.
Sands placed 13th while Abrantes and McDonough were 16th in their events.
The Bears finished second in the MASCAC Championships with McDonough, Abrantes and junior Naomi Cass (Westport, Mass.) winning two events each.
Abrantes and Sands were champions at the Division III New England meet and were joined on the All-New England team by McDonough and Inacio.
At the NEICAAA meet, Sands, Cass, Abrantes and Inacio finished in the top eight for All-NEICAAA honors as did the 4x100 relay team.
McDonough (100, 100H, 4x100), Abrantes (200, 400, 4x100), Inacio (4x100), Escalera (4x100), Sands (HJ) and Cass (10,000) garnered USTFCCCA All-East Region honors.
BASEBALL
The Bears won their fourth straight MASCAC tournament and regular-season championships and finished 30-15.
BSU had to rally out of the loser's bracket with three straight wins to win the MASCAC title over Mass. Maritime Academy.
The Bears hosted the NCAAs and lost to Endicott and Oswego State.
Emerson made the All-MASCAC first team for a fourth straight year. He broke the record for career hits set in 2008 by Steve Smith.
Emerson leaves the Bears as the leader in at-bats in a career and season, runs in a career and season, singles in a career and is tied for the career lead in triples.
Senior shortstop Kevin Lindsay (East Bridgewater, Mass.) made the all-conference first team and finished the leader in games played with 200 and third in hits with 220.
Also on the MASCAC first team was Flaherty, who broke a 39-year-old home run record set by John Kiely, by hitting 17 while driving in 64 runs, breaking Jeremy Winters' mark.
The all-conference first team also included senior pitcher Cameron Breault (Buzzards Bay, Mass.) and senior catcher Philip Messina (Dunkirk, N.Y.) while junior pitcher Trey Yesu (Monson, Mass.) and senior outfielder Brendan Flaven (Taunton, Mass.) made the second team.
WOMEN'S LACROSSE
The Bears opened the season 9-1 and finished 14-5. They were the No. 4 seed in the MASCAC and lost in the semifinal round to eventual champion Worcester State, 19-14.
Gonsalves made the all-conference first team for a second straight year and had 72 goals and 41 assists. Her 113 points are the second-most scored in a season by a BSU player.
Joining Gonsalves on the All-MASCAC first team was junior Meredith Sylvia (Dartmouth, Mass.), who had 54 goals. Named to the second team were senior Erin McIntyre (Tewsksbury, Mass.), who had 41 goals, and senior defender Hannah Bowlby (Dalton, Mass.).
Freshman goalkeeper Sara Skaff (Lowell, Mass.) was the MASCAC Rookie of the Year after going 13-5.
MEN'S TENNIS
The defending champion Bears made it to the final round of the Little East tournament before losing to Rhode Island College, 6-1.
BSU was 8-5 and 5-1 in the conference.
Junior Adam Beatrice (Rockland, Mass.) made the All-Little East first team in singles and doubles while sophomore Khiem Nguyen (Burlington, Vt.) was on the first team in doubles and the second team in singles.
Junior Tom Ayson (Plymouth, Mass.) made the second team in singles and doubles while sophomore Anthony Lucas (Weymouth, Mass.) made the second team in doubles.
SOFTBALL
The Bears went 19-18 and lost to Salem State, 7-6, in the opening round of the MASCAC tournament.
BSU had a five-game winning streak in March and won seven of eight games in the closing weeks of the season.
Second-team all-conference honors went to junior Angelina Lynch (Taunton, Mass.) plus sophomores Sydney Schaefer (Swarthmore, Pa.), Olivia Hargreaves (Weare, N.H.) and Sidney Schwartz (Chelmsford, Mass.).
Lynch was the top hitter (.376) and had three homers.
EQUESTRIAN
The Bears opened the season in the fall and returned in March for four shows.
Junior captain Emily Desmond (Braintree, Mass.) and sophomore Abigail Abbott (Wareham, Mass.) took part in the IHSA Zone 1, Region 4 show.
Desmond was third in intermediate flats while Abbott was third in intermediate fences and fifth in intermediate flat.