GORHAM, Maine – Senior Samantha McKosky (Deep River) won the mile for the third straight year and anchored the 4x800 relay to its third straight title in powering the Eastern Connecticut State University women's team to its highest finish ever at the 22nd Annual Little East Conference Indoor Track & Field Championships Saturday at the Costello Complex on the University of Southern Maine campus.
Sparked by four first-place finishes and 11 All-LEC performances, Eastern finished second in the eight-team field behind host University of Southern Maine, which won its 20th team title. The Warriors had placed fourth each of the last three years and had previously finished third four times, most recently in 2007.
Behind Southern Maine (137.5 points), Eastern totaled 104 points, with Plymouth State University (98) close behind and Rhode Island College (90) fourth.
McKosky became the first female in the meet to win the mile as many as three times, clocking a 5:13.90 as the top seed which was just off her program record of 5:12.40 set at the New England Championships two years ago. The top-seeded 4x800 relay was the first relay to win as many as three straight titles in 14 years. Runners were senior Maggie Dulak (Northford), junior Lauren Bresson (Roxbury), senior Holly Dulak (Northford), and McKosky.
McKosky was one of only two double winners in the meet, clocking a 2:24.66 to become only the second different Eastern female to claim the 800 title. Program record-holder Karina Johnson (2:16.00) had won the 800 for Eastern in 2008 and 2009.
Top-seeded senior Brittany Kriley (Fair Lawn, NJ) won the high jump title (5-1 ½) (1.56m) after sharing second place a year ago. She becomes the second Eastern competitor to win the high jump, following Lauren Hultzman in 2012.
Senior Ahriyan Brown (New Britain) contributed 14 points for the Warriors by taking second place in the 200 (26.08) and third in the 55 (7.41), establishing program records in both events in the process. Brown broke Amber Petrizzo's ten-year-old record of 26.39 in the 200 and Summer Williams' 18-year-old record of 7.44 in the 55. With her 200 time, Brown jumped from 22nd in New England to seventh in the rankings.
The top three individuals and first two relays were accorded All-LEC recognition. In addition to the three individual and 4x800 relay winners and Brown in the 200 and 55, additional All-LEC performers were Bresson in the 800, Maggie Dulak in the 1000, seniors Rachel Osak (Portland) and Samara Johnson (Lebanon) in the 3000, and freshman Wendie Stewart (Hartford) in the shot.
Bresson was third in the 800 (2:27.51), Maggie Dulak third in the 1000 (3:11.21), Osak (11:22.06) second and Johnson (11:28.60) third in the 3000, and Stewart third in the shot (38-2) (11.63m).
Having competed only once in her career in the 55 hurdles, junior Jasmine Conduah (Fairfield) improved from the 15th-best time (9.92) to the 11th-best (9.59) in the preliminaries.
