By Jim Fenton
BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- There have been only three women's outdoor track & field programs to win more than three straight outright Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference championships.
Westfield State University did it twice (six in a row from 2004-09 and four consecutive from 2010-13) and Worcester State University (2010-13) and Fitchburg State University (1991-94) each won four straight.
This spring, Bridgewater State University has an opportunity to join that list.
The Bears have put together three outdoor MASCAC titles in a row after not winning a championship since they shared the crown with Worcester State in 2015.
The opening meet is on March 23 when the Bears host the BSU Invitational at 10 a.m. The MASCAC Championships take place on April 26 at Westfield State.
The Bears have nearly all of the top point producers from last season's MASCAC championship team back and are coming off a strong winter season.
"I think we will be better this year because most of our team from last year is back and they are all better," said coach Christine Kloiber. "All but one had (personal bests in the winter).
"We just have higher quality performers on this team. We have women who performed well at the Open New Englands. We don't have the depth and that will challenge us, but our top athletes are really quality athletes."
Graduate student Alison McDonough (Halifax, Mass.) returns for her final season after leading the Bears with 28 points at the MASCAC Championships last spring.
McDonough registered 28 points in 2003, finishing first in the 100-meter hurdles and long jump (breaking her school record) while taking second in the 100-meter dash.
McDonough made her third appearance in the NCAA Division 3 Championships earlier this month, taking part in the indoor meet in Virginia Beach, Va.
Last spring, she was an All-New England selection (finishing second in the 100 hurdles), an All-NEICAAA pick (fourth in the 100 hurdles) and an All-East choice by the USTFCCCA (100 hurdles, long jump and 100).
Jailene Escalera (Rockland, Mass.) had 20 points at the MASCAC Championships last spring, winning the 100, by breaking her own school record, and the 200.
Escalera was named to the All-New England team (third in the 200 and fifth in the 100) and the All-East squad (second in the 100 and third in the 200).
Other MASCAC-winning performers who are back include Kiara Abrantes (Somerset, Mass.), who was first in the 400, and Tristen Gomes (Middleboro, Mass.), who won the triple jump.
Three runners from the Bears' MASCAC-winning 4x100 relay team, Escalera, Abrantes and McDonough, are back.
Senior high jumper Serenity Sands (East Bridgewater, Mass.) was slowed by an early-season ankle injury last spring but she rebounded and put together an All-American season this
winter.
Sands was fourth at the NCAA Division 3 Indoor Championships this month in Virginia with a school-record jump of 5 feet, 8.5 inches. That tied the top jump at the nationals but she was placed fourth on a tiebreaker.
Sands has made the NCAA outdoor meet the past two seasons and is the first BSU women to earn indoor All-American honors since Jayci Andrews in 2019.
The Bears have five meets before defending the MASCAC title in late April.
"I anticipate that they will all pick up where they left off in the winter season," said Kloiber. "They have the physical and mental skills to deal with high stress situations."
During the indoor season, BSU finished second in the MASCAC with 169 points to Westfield State (194).
McDonough was a double winner (long jump and 60 hurdles) and Gomes broke a school record to win the triple jump.
Other indoor MASCAC champions were Escalera (60), Naomi Cass (Westport, Mass.) in the 1,000, Sands in the high jump and Abrantes in the 400.