Easton, Mass. — Putting up a massive string of performances in the second day of competition, Wagner won it's first ever Northeast Conference outdoor championship on Sunday.
The Seahawks are now back-to-back champions this season after also winning the program's first NEC indoor championship back in February. Wagner beat out Central Connecticut for first place with a 167 team score.
Dominating across the board, the Seahawks battled literally from start to finish to secure the championship.
Senior Ruth-Ann Chambers helped Wagner make that late push on Sunday, winning gold in three individual events to add 30 points to the team total and provide some cushion in the scoring. Running in the 100-meter hurdles, 100-meter dash and 400-meter hurdles, Chambers set two meet records along the way to winning Most Valuable Performer, her second after winning that same award for the indoor championship.
Chambers' 11.86-second time in the 100-meter dash is the first meet record she established, with a 400-meter hurdles time of 59.46 setting a record in that event. She was also named Most Outstanding Track Performer of the sprinters.
Sophomore Rylee Ferretti won the meet's very first event, the 10,000-meter run, to win gold, later also earning a silver medal in the 5,000-meter run. With those two performances, Ferretti was named Most Outstanding Track Performer of the distance runners.
Senior Gia Comerford also earned gold for the Seahawks, running a 10:49.85 time in the steeplechase to win by almost half a minute. She finished fourth in the 5,000-meter run, just behind Ferretti with a 17:56.06 time to add five more points.
Comerford was also on the 4x800-meter relay team that won one of Wagner's five gold medals, joined by juior Angelina Olah, sophomore Magui Calvo-Jorge and junior Laura Trenado with a 9:05.91 finish. That time broke the standing NEC meet record, a third record set by Wagner on Sunday.
Rounding out Wagner's gold-medal winners, junior Eliza Parazzi won the high jump competition on Sunday with a 1.63-meter clearance.
Another runner who put up big numbers for the Seahawks, Trenado took home two silver medals in individual events. She ran a 4:51.49 time in the 1,500-meter run and a 2:15.81 in the 800-meter run to contribute 16 points to the team total.
Senior Janee' Patterson joined Chambers on the podium for the 400-meter hurdles, running a 1:01.10 time for silver to add six points for Wagner.
Freshman Christine Manneh, Chambers, freshman Mia Petersen and sophomore June Fernandez took home silver in the 4x100-meter relay with a 46.30-second time.
The 4x400-meter relay team took home bronze, with Chambers, sophomore Angel Okafor, Trenado and Patterson running a 3:50.95 time for third place and six team points.
Manneh finished sixth in the 100-meter dash with a 12.12-second time to add three points to the team score. Fernandez finished seventh in the 400-meter dash with a 1:00.15 time to add two points.
Junior Madison Petricevic logged a 35.03-meter javelin throw for a fifth-place finish, adding four points to Wagner's team score. Also in the field events, Petersen finished just off the podium in the triple jump, adding five points on an 11.67-meter performance that put her in fourth.
Junior Angela Cavalieri followed Comerford in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, finishing fifth with an 11:43.64 time to add four team points.
Calvo-Jorge was behind Trenado in the 1,500-meter run, logging a 4:43.18 finish for seventh place and two team points, repeating that performance in the 800-meter run as well with a 2:19.62 time. Senior Ana Blanco Duran finished fourth with a 2:15.98 time for five points, followed by Olah in sixth with a 2:18.26 time for sixth.
