Posted: Apr 09, 2011

Seahawks grab fourth at Corsair Classic

Alexa Bracco set a school-record in the pole vault

NORTH DARTMOUTH, Mass. - Freshen Alexa Bracco (Hauppauge, N.Y.) and Tara Ruddy (Sparta, N.J.) each recorded first-place finishes to help the Salve Regina University women's track and field team to a fourth place finish at the 2011 Corsair Classic, hosted by UMass Dartmouth.

Bracco cleared 8-06.00 on the pole vault to break both her personal and school record in the event. Ruddy, meanwhile, won the long jump with a leap of 17-00.75. She also placed sixth in the 100m dash with a time of 13.00 and seventh in the 200m dash with a time of 27.82. In the process, Ruddy qualified for the New England Division III Championship in both event the long jump and 100m.

Freshmen Kayley Ryan (Portland, Conn.) placed second in the 3000m steeplechase with a time of 12:59.37, followed by classmate Sabrina Parisi (Gloucester, Mass.) in third place (13:31.68) and sophomore Danielle Schioppo (North Haven, Conn.) in fourth place (13:43.50). All three times were personal bests.

In the 1500m, sophomore Alexis Gallipoli (Branford, Conn.) posted a personal best time of 5:07.22, which was good for fourth place overall. Freshman Karli Nunez (Hampton Bays, N.Y.) placed fifth in the 400m hurdles with a personal best time of 1:15.71.

The Salve Regina 4x100m relay team of junior Kelsey Jacobsen (Albany, N.Y.), sophomore Kristen Peterson (Holden, Mass.), and freshmen Janei White (Bridgeport, Conn.) and Ruddy crossed the finish line in second place with a season-best time of 52.00. Peterson also placed third in the 100m hurdles (17.19) and fifth in the high jump (4-07.75).

"All in all, it was a good day for the Seahawks," said Salve Regina head coach Matt Hird. "We scored our largest point total of the season as 61 percent of our performances were improvements from earlier in the season. We had a number of personal bests and broke three school records. Tara broke the long jump record as well as the 100m record, which has stood since 1984. Alexa broke her own pole vault record. We will try to carry our momentum into next week's event at MIT."

Sophomore James Weselcouch (East Haddam, Conn.) - a member of the Salve Regina men's cross country team - competed independently on the men's side in the 100m dash and the 1500m events for the first time in his career. He recorded a time of 12.39 in the 100m, which was 22nd out of 39 competitors, and placed 12th out 22 runners in the 1500m with a mark of 4:37.15.