DARTMOUTH, Mass. -- Five individuals and one relay won titles in propelling the Eastern Connecticut State University women's and men's teams to third-place finishes among nearly a dozen teams Saturday at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Corsair Classic.
 

Behind first-place finishes from seniors Jorich Swift (Mansfield) and Ryan Escoda (Newtown), junior Collin Wiltshire (Ledyard) and the 4x400 relay, the Eastern men piled up 118 points to finish third in an 11-team field, while the women were sparked by first-place finishes from juniors Mackenzie Dunn (Middletown) and Jill McGahan (Dedham, MA) to total 83 points in a third-place finish in a field of 12 teams.
 

Host UMass Dartmouth, which trimmed Eastern by 17 points to capture this past winter's Little East Conference men's indoor championship, totalled 150 points to win the team title, with Bridgewater State University second (137). Bridgewater State led the women's field with 193 points, with the U.S. Coast Guard Academy second, with 138 points.
 

Seeded ninth, Swift bested a field of 17  runners with a PR of 16:01.00 in the 5000; seeded third, Escoda won the 3000 steeplechase in a time of 9:58.74; seeded second, Wiltshire won the triple jump (46-8 3/4) to lead a 1-2-3 Eastern finish which included sophomore Aidan Hennessy (Granby) and Conor Hennessy (Granby); the 4x400 relay of seniors Escoda and Tyler Lindquist (Worcester, MA), junior Cory Bill (Mansfield) and first-year runner Liam Stafford (Alexandria, VA) won by .20 seconds with a time of 3:35.29.
 

Against 20 other competitors, Dunn won the long jump with a mark of 16- 5 3/4 and McGahan outlasted a field of three to win the 10,000 in a time of 44:32.28.

During the meet, three men qualified for the New England Division III Championships in early May, giving the men five qualifiers this year in seven events and the women two qualifiers in two events. At UMass Dartmouth, first-year competitor Adam Schimmelpfennig (Pomfret) followed his earlier qualification in the 110 hurdles with a qualifying time of 58.32 in a second-place finish in the 400 hurdles; Escoda qualified with his winning time in the 3000 steeplechase (a program record he set last May at the New England Open) and Aidan Hennessy qualified with his second-place mark of 42-11 3/4 (13.10m) in the triple jump.

In addition to the event winners and New England qualifiers, senior tri-captain Manar Enany (Fairfield) returned to competition since the first indoor meet December 4 following collarbone surgery and placed second in a field of 24 in the hammer with a mark of 129-11 -- the fourth-longest throw of her career and less than two meters shy of qualifying for the New England Championships.

Other notable accomplishments for the women: Sophomore first-year competitor Carly Alston (Franklin, MA) was fifth among 35 in the 800 (2:34.43) and sixth in a field of 42 in the 1500 (5:18.02) to add seven points to the women's effort...after qualifying for the New England Championships last week in the 10,000, senior Maggie Santacroce (Bristol) was eighth among 42 with a time of 5:22.72 in the 1500... sophomore Shannon Burby (Wolcott) was third among 26 in the javelin (108-2/32.98m).

For the men: In a near-miss, Bill's 11.21 in a fourth-place finish among 42 runners in the 100 was .01 shy of the New England qualifier... also in the 100, first-year runner Eric Phongsa (Pomfret) followed Bill at the finish with a fifth-place finish of 11.39 in that extensive field... Lindquist was fourth among 43 in the 200 (23.04) and first-year runner Liam Stafford (Alexandria, VA) was fourth among 36 in the 1500 (4:13.63)... in addition to qualifying for the New England Championships in the 400 hurdles, Schimmelpfenning was third in a field of 16 in the 110 hurdles (15.88)...
 

Eastern competes at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy Invitational Saturday at 10 a.m.