NEW LONDON, Conn. —
The United States Coast Guard Academy women's track & field team closed out the 2026 New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Championships as runners-up to Massachusetts Institute of Technology following Saturday's conclusion to the meet. Coast Guard scored 121.5 points to trail MIT's winning total of 276.
Tara Jessen (Signal Mountain, Tenn.) earned back-to-back championship crowns in the heptathlon and the 400m hurdles. She set a NEWMAC record in the heptathlon, scoring 4236 points and improving on last year's mark of 3745. Jessen moves up to #2 on the Academy's all-time list and was the top competitor in the multi's 100m hurdle, high jump, long Jump, 200m, and 800m.
Alaina Stonebraker (Salt Lake City, Utah) was 3rd in the 200m and 400m with respective times 25.42 and 57.32; 8th in the 100m at 13.88; and anchored a 4th place 4x100m relay with a 48.88 leg time.
Coast Guard placed three more women in the top eight of the 400m.
Millie Wymbs (Salisbury, N.C.) was 6th at 59.49,
Bianca McIntosh (Woodbridge, Va.) was 7th with 1:00.26, and
Thuy Nguyen (Camden, Ga.) was 8th at 1:00.73. The trio joined
Ella Besant (Morehead, Ky.) as runners-up in the women's 4x400m relay, running 4:00.40.
Kate Stebbins (Chapin, S.C.) and Besant earned spots on the 800m podium, placing 2nd and 3rd running 2:17.20 and 2:17.85. Both Stebbins and Besant move up on the all-time list to #3 and #5. Freshman
Amanda Delvan (Boiling Springs, Pa.) broke the 2:20 barrier with a collegiate best of 2:19.07
In the distance events,
Claire Semerod (Centennial, Colo.) was 4th overall in the 1500m with a time of 4:41.89. Freshman
Kevyn Fish (Pittsburgh, Pa.) earned a podium spot after placing 3rd in the 3000m steeple with a collegiate best time of 11:15.96, the second-fastest performance in Academy history.
Annabel Molner (Bremen, Germany) was 4th in the 5000 meters running a personal best time of 17:58.56, with freshman
Meredith Isley (Valparaiso, Ind.) placing 7th with a time of 18:12.52.
Allie Wildsmith (Bainbridge Island, Wash.) won her fourth and final NEWMAC Championship in the high jump after clearing a bar at 1.71, (5' 7.25") to set a new Nitchman Track facility record. Fellow senior
Kaylee Wright (Plainwell, Mich.) took another podium spot after her 3rd place finish and school record-setting triple jump of 11.40m (37' 5").
Rounding it our was
Sandra Kirvelevicius (East Lyme, Conn.) coming into the shot put as the 8th seed and making a significant improvement with a monster throw of 11.20m (36' 9") to place 3rd.
Coast Guard women's track & field will return to competition next weekend, with a select few traveling to Western Massachusetts to compete in the New England Division III Championships at Springfield College.
