NEW LONDON, Conn. – Senior Ella Whinney (Madison, Wis.) earned first place in the 3000m Steeplechase for Wellesley College track & field on the second day of the 2026 NEWMAC Championships, taking place at Coast Guard Academy.
The Blue finished eighth overall as a team. MIT won the team event with 276 points. Coast Guard (121.5), Springfield (84.5), WPI (76), Babson (72.5), Wheaton (70), Smith (61.5), Wellesley (35), Salve Regina (13) and Mount Holyoke (9) made up the rest of the field.
Whinney took down the competition, winning the 3000m Steeplechase and earning NEWMAC First Team All-Conference honors in the process. Whinney's time of 10:45.22 is a NEWMAC Championship record and currently ranks 13th in Division III this season. Classmate Simone Beauchamp (Aurora, Colo.) came in fourth in the race with a time of 11:25.17, 66th in Division III, and earned five points. First-year Sophia Trabuco (Rochester, Minn.) took ninth place at 12:09.13.
In the 1500m, senior Claire Peng (Chapel Hill, N.C.) ran a personal-best time of 4:51.81 to claim two points in seventh place out of 30. First-year Cadence Chang (Boston, Mass.) placed 12th in the event, hitting the finish line at 5:02.10. Sophomores Addie Maguire (Oakland, Calif.) (18th - 5:19.25) and Helen Yang (Woodland Hills, Calif.) (22nd - 5:31.16) competed in the race.
First-year Sophia Wang (Livingston, N.J.) came in eighth place in the High Jump, clearing the bar at 1.51m to snag a point for Wellesley.
Wang matched the eighth place finish in the Triple Jump, touching the sand at 10.73m. First-year Shriya Kundranda (Scottsdale, Ariz.) earned 16th with a distance of 10.03m. First-years Christina Yan (Tuscaloosa, Ala.) (18th - 9.90m) and Hailey Moy (San Francisco, Calif.) (20th - 9.16m) each competed for the Blue.
In the 5000m, first-year Zoë Cort (San Francisco, Calif.) tacked on a team points by running a season-best 18:17.80 race to place eighth. Senior Elise Lanahan (Greenville, S.C.) was the 10th place finisher in the event, completing the race at 18:30.10. First-years Dylan Burmeister (Nobleboro, Maine) (21st - 19:42.83) and Bela Kumar (Natick, Mass.) (24th - 20:25.75) rounded out the Wellesley runners in the event.
Senior Kenya Francis (Atlanta, Ga.) captured ninth in the Discus Throw, with a throw that went 32.91.Sophomore Maya Sharar (Andover, Mass.) was one spot behind in 10th place with a distance of 32.46. First-year Eliza Glick (Dumont, N.J.) had a season-long distance of 26.16m to finish 17th. Sophomore Julia Carmona (Bronx, N.Y.) reached 21.98m and ended in 24th.
Francis and Sharar went 11-12 in the Shot Put. Francis threw 10.18m for 11th while Sharar took 12th at 10.13m. Senior Dova Koretsky (Pepperell, Mass.) earned 23rd with an 8.10m distance.
In the 400m, senior Sara Maeve Klingensmith (Chapel Hill, N.C.) came in 10th out of 20 runners, clocking in at 1:01.32.
Sophomore Leeya Rice (Closter, N.J.) had a 10th place performance with a time of 2:24.40 in the 800m. Classmate Leah Willis (Mercersburg, Pa.) snagged 15th, hitting the finish line at 2:27.92.
In the 4x400m Relay, Klingensmith, Peng, Rice, Whinney ran a 4:14.60 to finish eighth.
Wolf, Klingensmith, Kundranda and Yan finished ninth in the 4x100m Relay, putting together a 52.76 time.
Up next, the Blue will have certain members competing at the New England DIII Championships at Springfield College on May 1-2.
