BOSTON, Mass. – The Bridgewater State University women's indoor track & field team opened the 2023-2024 season on Saturday at the non-scoring Suffolk Relays held at The Track at New Balance. The meet featured schools from all three NCAA divisions as well as unattached athletes from track clubs.

Senior Serenity Sands (East Bridgewater, Mass.) and graduate students Alison McDonough (Halifax, Mass.) and Jailene Escalera (Rockland, Mass.) each qualified for the Division III New England Championships.

Sands placed second at the meet and qualfied in the high jump with a leap of five feet, five inches (1.65m).

McDonough placed fourth in the 60-meter hurdles with a finals time of 9.15 seconds and finished eighth in the 60-meter dash with a finals time of 7.99 seconds. McDonough qualified for DIII New Englands in both events.

Escalera placed seventh in the finals of the 60-meter dash with a DIII New Englands qualifying time of 7.98 seconds. Escalera also added a third place showing in the 300-meter dash (41.82).

Junior Kiara Abrantes (Somerset, Mass.) finished tenth in the 300 (43.43) while sophomore Naomi Cass (Westport, Mass.) was the tenth harrier to cross the finish line in the 3,000-meter run (10:40.87).

The Bears' quartet of Cass, senior Nicole Major (Andover, Mass.), junior Kate Brown (Acushnet, Mass.) and senior Elisabeth Sweeney (Marshfield, Mass.) placed seventh in the 4x400-meter relay.

Senior Juliana Patrone (Wilmington, Mass.) tied for seventh in the high jump (4'11"/1.50m).

Sands currently ranks second in all of Division III in the high jump while McDonough is ninth in the hurdles and Cass is 24th in the 3,000.

The Bears are back in action on Sunday, December 10th when they compete at the UMass Boston Beacons Open held at The Track at New Balance.