WESTFIELD, Mass. — Westfield State women's indoor track and field headline the 2024 Preseason Coaches' Poll as the Owls were voted first while the men's track and field team placed second in the 2024 Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference Indoor Preseason Poll as voted on by the coaches throughout the league.
Women's Indoor Track and Field:
Westfield State received three of the four first-place votes total votes for a total of nine points. In second place was Bridgewater State who received the other first-place tally for seven points. State finished third with five points and Fitchburg State finished fourth with three points.
Last year at the MASCAC championships, the Owls finished in first place as three runners finished in first place in their respective events. Eliza Lee (Walpole, Mass.) won both the 600- and 800-meter last year last February at Smith College. Julianne Kelly (Natick, Mass.) finished first in the women's 3000 meter run with teammate Shea Hamel (Longmeadow, Mass.) followed right behind in second then finished in first in the women's 5000 meter run.
Westfield also had two relay teams finish in first in both the women's 4x400 meter relay and the 4x800 meter relay.
In the field events last year, returner Bronwyn Pinsly (Las Vegas, Nev.) finished fifth in women's shot put as well and Lee finished third in the long jump and second in triple jump.
Men's Indoor Track and Field:
The men's track and field finished second in coaches polls with seven total points including one first-place vote. Bridgewater State took the top spot with nine total points and the remaining three first-place votes. Worcester State and Fitchburg State tied for third with four points.
The men finished second last season in the MASCAC championship meet with 174 total points, trailing only Bridgewater with 269.
Westfield State returning senior runner John Nekitopoulos (West Springfield, Mass.) headlined the men's individual finishers last year. Nekitopoulos finished first in both the 1000 meter run and 3000-meter run. The Owls also finished first as a team in the men's 4x800 meter relay.
From the field events, Dylan Clark (Bellows Falls, Vt.) finished sixth in men's shot put as well as top ten in the men's weight throw.
The men's and women's first meet of the season comes on Saturday, December 7 at Springfield college for the Springfield College Season Opener.
Written by Hunter Briggs – WSU Sports Information Graduate Assistant