BY Pat Kelleher
Staff Reporter
The women’s track and field team competed in the New England Championships on Feb. 1. The team received a third place finish in the 4×800 meter relay group, and sophomore Natalie Dubois took first place in the 1000 meter race.
With this being Dubois’s first career win in an event, she reflects upon earning the top spot at the meet and how she can build off this going forward.
“Winning my event at East Stroudsburg was pretty cool considering my freshman year I was not even close to winning,” said Dubois. “I was really happy with that progress because I took a gap year last year, and hopefully, I will be able to continue to get faster and keep up my confidence going forward.”
The Pioneers are three short weeks out from the beginning of the Northeast Conference Championships. Confidence and teamwork is vital leading up to the end.
According to athletic communications, four fellow Pioneers, seniors Bianca De Lucia, Jacqueline Thorne and Olivia Weiss along with junior Kaylin Ciesluk, crossed the finish line in a combined time of 9:13:54 in the 4×800 meter race in the New England Championships. This led to a third place finish, trailing University of Connecticut and University of Rhode Island.
“I believe the essentials to a successful 4×800 team is having a group of individuals who will push themselves above and beyond,” said De Lucia. “Running on a relay team is completely different than an individual event because now you have people relying on you even more than before.”
De Lucia, Thorne and Weiss went on to explain how chemistry within the relay group on and off the track sets them up for success with how much time they spend working out together during and after practice.
With the conference championships just a few weeks away, this means the end of the road for the seniors, who have been dedicated athletes to the program for the last four years. Finishing out strong and winning a conference championship is the number one priority for the senior athletes as they look to leave their mark and lead the program into a bright future moving forward.
“As we slowly approach our indoor winter track championship meet, we are thrilled to give it all that we have,” said De Lucia. “The other day I was discussing with the senior class how it feels like just yesterday we were running in our first track championship.”
The Pioneers’ next meet will take place on Feb. 15 as the team will compete in the Giegengack Invitational located in New Haven, Conn.
