WESTFIELD, Mass. - Westfield State senior Amy O'Sullivan (Greenfield, Mass.) capped a big weekend with three Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference titles, helping the Owls to a second-place team finish at the league championship meet at Wheaton College in Norton, Mass. on Saturday.
O'Sullivan won the three distance events, taking the 5000 meters, the mile, and the 3000 meters in succession on Saturday. She ran 19:48.85 in the 5,000, outdistancing classmate Kayla Whitcomb (Hubbardston, Mass./Quabbin Reg.) by about eight seconds. Mia McDonald (Westfield, Mass.) placed fourth and Grace Poplawski (Rowe, Mass./Mohawk Trail) sixth, as Westfield picked up 23 of the 31 points available in the event.
In the mile, O'Sullivan completed the circuit in 5:21.36, lowering her seed time by 9/10ths of a second. Whitcomb again added points for the Owls, placing third, and Ariann Lecours (Haverhill, Mass.) added a sixth-place result for the Owls.
Finally, O'Sullivan took home her third medal of the day with a time of 10:41.87 in the 3000 meters, leading an Owls sweep of the top five spots, as Whitcomb, Kerin Johnson (Weymouth, Mass.), McDonald, and Molly Kennedy (West Springfield, Mass.) completed the Westfield parade to claim 30 points in the event.
Whitcomb accounted for 22 points with her perfomances in the distance events, running personal records in the mile, and the 3,000, where she improved her time by nine seconds.
O'Sullivan also competed on Friday at the Valentine Invitational at Boston University, where she placed fourth in her heat of the 5000 meters against a mix of Division I, II, and III runners in a personal best time of 17:30.79, which has her ranked 22nd in the nation in that event. (At the conclusion of the season the top 20 competitors in an event will be selected to compete at the NCAA Division III championships.)
Also on Saturday, Owls first year Vicky Marin (Greenfield, Mass.) racked up points, placing second in the 60 hurdles in 9.51 seconds, second in the high jump at 1.56 meters, and second in the long jump at 5.22 meters to account for 24 team points in the MASCAC scoring.
Sophomore Paige Moroney (Sterling, Mass./Wachussett Reg.) took second in the 60 meter dash, third in the 200 meters, and ran legs of the Owls' second-place 4x200 and 4x400 relay units. Moroney set PR's in both the 60 and the 200.
Westfield also got second place finishes from Becca Welch (Walpole, Mass.) in the 400, Rayna Consiglio (Worcester, Mass./Tech) in the 600, and Johnson in the 800. Carly Smith (Berlin, Mass./Tahanto) was third in the triple jump.
Owls athletes set 19 personal-best marks at the meet.
Bridgewater State captured the team title with 287 points, followed by Westfield in second with 182, as the Owls easily outdistanced Fitchburg (51) and Worcester State (42).
The Owls' season continues next weekend, as the squad returns to Wheaton for the Wheaton Invitational meet.