NORTH DARTMOUTH, Mass. – The Bridgewater State University women's outdoor track & field team placed third at the MASCAC Championships on Sunday hosted by UMass Dartmouth.

The Bears notched 167 points finishing behind conference champion Westfield State University (224 pts.) and runner-up Worcester State University (192 pts.).

Bridgewater also finished fifth in the New England Alliance Championships with 79 points.  Southern Maine captured the Alliance title with 138.5 points, followed by Westfield State (114 pts.), Worcester State (108 pts.) and UMass Boston (88 pts.) in the team standings.

Danielle Poto (North Andover, Mass.) paced the Bears as she garnered a pair of MASCAC individual titles in the 1,500-meter run and the 5,000-meter run.  Poto posted a time of 5:07.34 in the 1,500 and 18:55.58 in the 5,000.

Also capturing MASCAC crowns for the Bears were Ariele Krevosky (Oxford, Mass.) in the triple jump (34'9.5"/10.60m), Jacey Peers (Elmsford, N.Y.) in the 10,000-meter run (40:53.59) and Samantha Richner (Hanson, Mass.) in the high jump (4'11.75"/1.52m).

BSU's relay squad of Karen Anselmi (Franklin, Mass.), Traci Perry (Middleboro, Mass.), Amanda Lane (Abington, Mass.) and Becca Geldmacher (Rochester, Mass.) also won the MASCAC title in the 4x400 with a time of 4:04.75.

Regional postseason play gets underway next weekend when qualifying member of the BSU women's track & field team compete at the Division III New England Championships hosted by Springfield College.