ACPHS Captures 5th Straight Women’s Track & Field YSCC Title
Springfield, MA – For the fifth year in a row, Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences won the Yankee Small College Conference Women's Track and Field Championship, scoring nearly twice as many points as the any of the other five teams at the event. The Panthers ended the day with a team score of 157, far outpacing second place Central Maine Community College who finished with 84 for the Mustangs' second straight runner-up finish.
Rounding out the field, York County Community College took third with 78 points, Hampshire College totaled 69 points for fourth, Vermont State University Randolph ended up fifth with 17, and the University of Maine at Augusta completed the field with 14 points.
ACPHS capitalized on scoring as many points as possible across the 18 contested events, winning seven individual YSCC titles. Giselle Campbell took the 100-meter dash with the junior running a 13.51-second time in overcast and cold conditions. At the other end of the spectrum, Kayleigh Simpson was the 10,000 meters champion. The senior paced herself to a time of 47:12.62 to score max points.
Nithya Gutta took first place in two events, winning the 400-meter hurdles in an all-ACPHS field with a time of 1:10.56, and taking the long jump with a best leap of 4.91 meters from the junior. Sophomore Amanda Salisbury secured the high jump crown by clearing 1.64 meters and senior Ka'ena Kehano reached 15.39 meters in hammer throw in her final conference meet. Lastly, the Panthers' 4x400-meter relay team took first with a time of 5:56.35.
The other relay event went to Central Maine. CMCC's 4x100 meter squad posted a time of 57.49 seconds to edge out ACPHS' 58.76-second effort. The track was where the Mustangs made most of their points. Eva Fleurent was part of the relay effort and had two individual YSCC titles by winning the 800 meters and 1,500 meters. The freshman from Biddeford, ME had a 2:53.53 in the 800m and a time of 5:47.83 in the 1500m to secure the YSCC Women's Track Athlete of the Year award.
Another member of the relay team's victory also earned an individual crown. Breanna Dwyer followed up on her success winning the YSCC conference and USCAA national titles with Women's Basketball this winter by running a 28.57-second time in the 200-meter dash.
Hampshire College had one final day in the sun for the final conference athletic competition before the school's closure. Alena Maes-Polan won three titles across both track and field events. The senior won the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 18.41 seconds. She also won pole vault in the YSCC by clearing 3.05 meters, more than a meter higher than teammate Matteo Zumbano in second place. Maes-Polan rounded out the day with a heave of 27.58 meters in the javelin, far outdistancing the rest of the field, and added a fourth place in high jump for good measure.
Malena Price won the other event for the Black Sheep. The junior took triple jump crown with a best mark of 9.40 meters. She was not far off in high jump either, raising her own school record in the event by clearing 1.51 meters to take second place.
York County got two individual event wins thanks to Ryenn Baker, which earned her the YSCC Women's Field Athlete of the Year award. The freshman out of Sanford High School took home the discus title with a best effort of 26.75 meters. She also won shot put by reaching 9.04 meters. Both events saw the Hawks sweep the top three spots with Rachel Goodwin and Sophia Bell-Pifferrer alternating second and third.
Lastly, VTSU-Randolph claimed an individual crown as well. Rubiana Osorio Ventura was the winner in the 400 meters. The freshman threw down a blistering time of 1:08.65, almost ten seconds ahead of her next closest competitor in the YSCC.
Athletes will next prepare for the final event of the season, the 2026 USCAA Track & Field National Championships, held at Indiana University of Pennsylvania on April 25th.