By Jim Fenton
BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- Teams have won at least four consecutive Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference women's outdoor track & field championships on three occasions.
Westfield State University owns the record with six titles in a row from 2004-09 while the Owls (2016-19) and Worcester State University (2010-13) earned four straight crowns.
On Friday, Bridgewater State University has an opportunity to join that group.
The Bears have won the last three MASCAC outdoor titles (and 10 overall) and will go for four in a row at the championship meet that begins at 10 a.m. at Westfield State.
BSU, which was second to Westfield State at the indoor championship meet in February, has a smaller roster (15 athletes) than last spring when it tallied 189 points to place ahead of the Owls (162).
"The season's gone great," said coach Christine Kloiber. "It's like they picked up right where they left off indoors with barely an interruption.
"The team is solid across the board in all events. We don't have a lot of folks, but they pack a mighty punch."
Last spring, Alison McDonough (Halifax, Mass.) led the way by tallying 28 points, winning the 100 hurdles and long jump and finishing second in the 100.
Jailene Escalera (Rockland, Mass.) was a double-winner as well, finishing first in the 100 and 200.
Other individual winners who are back include Kiara Abrantes (Somerset, Mass.) in the 400 and Tristen Gomes (Middleboro, Mass.) in the triple jump.
They are joined by Serenity Sands (East Bridgewater, Mass.), who earned All-America status in the high jump at the NCAA Division 3 Championships during the indoor season, and Naomi Cass (Westport, Mass.), a standout long distance runner.
Sands won the high jump this spring at the Amherst Spring Fling and the Tufts University Sunshine Classic. Cass ran a personal-best 17:47.05 to finish third in the 5,000 at the Silfen Invitational in Connecticut.
Gomes was a winner at the Corsair Classic in the triple jump and high jump and was second in the high jump at Tufts. At Amherst, McDonough was first in the long jump, second in the 100 hurdles and fifth in the 100.
Escalera won the 100 and was second in the 200 at Amherst,was first in the 200 and second in the 100 at the Silfen Invitational and first in the 100 and 200 at Tufts, breaking her own school record in the 200 (25.03).
Abrantes had wins at Amherst and the Silfen Invitational in the 400 while McDonough was first in the long jump and 100 hurdles at Tufts.
Sands, McDonough, Escalera, Cass and Abrantes will be taking part in the Division 3 New England Championships and the Open New England meet in May. Gomes and Juliana Patrone (Wilmington, Mass.) have qualified for the Division 3 meet in the triple jump and high jump, respectively.
Sands is currently ranked eighth in all of Division III in the high jump, while McDonough is 23rd in the hurdles. The top 22 in each individual event advance to the NCAA Division III Championships (May 23-25) in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
"We're not a big roster this year, but they bring it," said Kloiber. "They're high caliber athletes. They work so hard and they're so committed to it. They're supportive of each other so that environment really has not limited them in their horizons."
The Bears will be bidding to become the fourth MASCAC champion with at least four straight outdoor crowns.
"I think it's going to be close," said Kloiber. "Everyone who is performing at a high level just needs to keep doing it. We just need a couple of surprises, too, someone who reaches deep down and has the day of their lives."