NEW LONDON, Conn.  -  Coast Guard track & field competed at, and hosted, the 2025 New England Division III Championships on Friday and Saturday, and the women's side finished third in the final team standings behind three event-winning performances and multiple All-NED3 showings.

Friday started with junior Kaylee Wright (Plainwell, Mich.) picking up the Bears' first All-NED3 nod with her fifth-place performance in the long jump at 5.51 (18' 1"). Fellow third-year Mollie Brinker (Wilmington, N.C.) later added a second by tying for seventh in the pole vault with Lena Tang of Tufts University, clearing 3.40 meters (11' 1.75") to tie her personal best.

Javelin saw senior Maureen Hammond (Downington, Pa.) finish in 18th-place after throwing the long sharp pole 29.77 meters (97' 8"). Junior sprinter Alaina Stonebraker (Sandy, Utah) ran 12.35 for fourth in the third heat of the 100 Meters preliminary, barely missing the cut to advance to the Saturday final.

Coast Guard got their first champion of the weekend after senior captain Paige Phillips (Wilmington, N.C.) showed everyone why the 5000 Meters was her event. Phillips clocked a season-best time of 17:08.49, outrunning second place by 13.36 seconds.

The moment was made even sweeter when sophomore teammate Annabel Molner (Bremen, Germany) claimed the race's final All-NED3 spot at 18:04.71 for eighth-place. Molner's time was a personal record and moved her up to seventh on the program's all-time outdoor leaderboard for the distance.

The Bears saw another new PR just a couple of events later when freshman Brooke Hunter (Phillipsburg, N.J.) ended Friday with a tenth-place finish of 39:12.84 in the 10k.

Hammond kicked off Saturday by placing 14th in shot put at 11.71 meters (38' 5"). Nearby at the jumping pits, Wright was 15th in the triple at 11.07 meters (36' 4") while senior captain Madelyn Greene (Chesapeake Beach, Md.) was 23rd at 10.73 meters.

Coast Guard's first relay of the day was the 4x100 Meters, and the crew of senior captain Grace Flynn (Severna Park, Md.), sophomore Ella Besant (Morehead, Ky.), Wright, and Stonebraker moved up to third on the Bears all-time list with an eighth-place finish of 49.61.

Second-year Makenna Topp (Anthem, Ariz.) was fourth in the 400 Meters at 57.33, while Besant was ninth at 58.97. The Bears picked up another fourth-place mid-distance finish via senior Sophia White (Gurley, Ala.), who crossed the finish line at 2:15.66.

Junior athlete Tara Jessen (Signal Mountain, Tenn.) proved to be Coast Guard's next NED3 champ after an excellent performance in the 400 Meter Hurdles. Jessen finished the race in 1:03.91, breaking the PR and school record she set just a weekend ago at NEWMAC Championships.

More movement on the Coast Guard leaderboards occurred in the first of the final two relays of the weekend. The 4x800 Meters crew of White, sophomore Kate Stebbins (Chapin, S.C.), Phillips, and junior Claire Semerod (Centennial, Colo.), finished their race in sixth-place at 9:38.28, moving up to third on the all-time list.

An electric 4x400 Meters race closed out the meet for the Bears. Racing in the fourth heat was the squad of Besant, Flynn, Stonebraker, and Topp, and the team led for the majority of it until the last leg. Topp took the baton but seemed to come out flat, allowing Tufts to take the lead on the first turn; but Topp kicked herself into high gear to make up ground in the final 100 meters.

It seemed as though the Bears anchor wouldn't be able to catch up, but the Jumbos' runner stumbled with around 75 feet to go, allowing a right-on-her-heels Topp to swoop by for the finish. Stonebraker and Topp both went sub-57 on their legs, with the former running her's in 56.30 and the latter's recovery taking 56.58.

Bears women's track & field will be split up next weekend, with athletes competing between the All-New England Championships at UMass Amherst and the Farley Inter Regional at Williams College.