BOSTON, Mass. –
Grace Devanny '23 is now an eight-time New England indoor champion as the senior sprinter helped lead the Wesleyan women's track & field team to three first place finishes at the 2023 New England Championships held at the TRACK at New Balance. The Cardinals piled up 54 points to place seventh overall out of 41 teams, matching their finishing place from last season.
The event began with a bang on Friday night, with Wesleyan's 4x200m relay group repeating as championships. For the second straight season,
Augusta Burhans '23, Devanny,
Kenzie Kelly '25, and
Gabby Harris '23 placed first overall in a record-setting time. The group finished the event in a meet and school record 1:41.80, besting the previous New England Championship record time of 1:43 by more than a full second.
Devanny rounded out another outstanding performance with two first place finishes on Saturday, both of which went down as new meet records at the New England Championships. She started with a time of 24.59 seconds in the 200m, besting the runner-up (Kianne Benjamin of Bowdoin) by just 0.16 seconds, as the winning time topped the previous meet record of 24.97 seconds.
Perhaps her most-impressive performance came in the 400m, as Devanny earned her third career New England title in the event, besting the previous meet record by more than one second. Devanny dominated the competition with a time of 55.70 seconds, breaking the previous New England Div. III Championship record time (56.77 by Amber James of Wheaton) that had stood since 2002.
Continuing the great run of success in the sprint competitions, Burhans and Harris both qualified for the finals of the 60m dash at New England's for the first time in their respective careers. Burhans earned a Top 5 finish, placing fifth with her time of 7.93 seconds in the final while Harris clocked in at 7.95 seconds to earn seventh place.
Fiona Carroll '25 shined in the pole vault, landing a mark of 3.33m, which gives her sole possession of the school record after both Carroll and
Erika Kluge '23 went for 3.25m last weekend at the Brown Invitational.
Maeve Hoffman '23 showed well in the 800m, clocking in with a season-best time of 2:15.88 which was good enough for third place out of 34.
Stephanie Ager '25 was the second-fastest first-year in the 3000m event, placing 13
th overall with a time of 10:25.50.
The Wesleyan relay groups picked up big points in the 4x400m and DMR, earning third and fourth place finishes, respectively. The 4x400m relay team of Kelly, Burhans, Hoffman, and Devanny combined for a time of 3:56.57 to take third out of 25. In the DMR, it was
Jordan Walter '25,
Sarah Schlosberg '25,
Nadia Lim '26, and
Jane Hollander '23 who clocked in at 12:17.30, good enough for fourth place out of 25. The same relay team also combined to take eighth place in the 4x800m relay, crossing the line in 9:46.37.
The Cardinals travel to Tufts next Saturday for the Last Chance Meet prior to the NCAA Indoor Championships on March 10-11 held in Birmingham, Alabama.
