EWING, N.J. - The TCNJ women's track and field team survived a late push from Rowan on Day 2 of the NJAC Championships Sunday afternoon beating the second-place Profs by just 3.5 points en route to the program's fifth consecutive championship. 223.5 was the winning score for the Lions, with Rowan (220) coming in just behind while Stockton (152.5) took third place.
 
TCNJ won thanks in large part to a pair of wins from Sarah Scepkowski (Heptathlon) and the 4x100 team of Mackenzie Burke, Rukky Daranijo, Petra Doherty and Samantha Magin, as well as a number of podium finishes from across the meet.
 
THE CHAMPS

• Scepkowski dominated the heptathlon from start to finish, winning the long jump (5.15 meters) before finishing fourth in the javelin (25.47 meters) and sixth in the 800 (2:47.86) on Day 2 to take the top spot in the meet for the second year running with her point total of 4048.
• Capitalizing on a disqualification of the Profs' 4x100 team, the Lions quartet of Burke, Daranijo, Doherty and Magin jumped to first to earn a critical 10 points with their time of 48.54.

THE MEDALISTS

• Magin paired her win in the 4x100 with a runner-up finish in the heptathlon, coming in just behind Scepkowski with 3757 thanks to an impressive win in the 800 in which she crossed the line in 2:27.97.
• Jessica Reilly found her way to the podium for the second straight day, finishing second in the discus with a mark of 36.62.
• Scepkowski added to her podium tally with a second-place finish in the high jump, clearing 1.52 meters on her first attempt to beat out Ramapo's Bryanna Shepperson. Scepkowski also finished third in the 100-meter hurdles with her time of 15.22, beaten by Burke who came in second with her time of 15.11.
• Daranijo used a strong outing to finish third in the 400, crossing the line in 57.21 to give TCNJ six more points.
• Kelly O'Grady set a new personal best in the 800, finishing second only to Kayla Kass, who set a meet record with her mark of 2:09.87. O'Grady crossed the line just over two seconds later with a time of 2:12.11.
• Eliza Bruncaj battled to a third-place finish in the 400-meter hurdles, crossing the line in 1:03.04 to earn her spot on the podium.
• TCNJ found success in its second relay team as well, with the Lions' 4x400 quartet of Daranijo, Bruncaj, Brenna Omert and O'Grady finishing second with a time of 3:50.68.

OTHER POINT-SCORERS

• Erin McGauley finished fifth in the heptathlon. The junior placed third in the long jump (4.77 meters), second in the javelin (27.62 meters) and eighth in the 800 (3:00.81) to push her point total to 3183.
• Brooke Valan and Lia Malave narrowly missed out on the podium in the triple jump, finishing in fourth and fifth respectively with marks of 11.00 and 10.71 meters.
• Allison Lavin claimed fourth in the discus, clearing 35.07 meters on her third throw. The sophomore also finished seventh in the shot put with her mark of 11.80 meters.
• Kerri McCarthy was the fourth-place finisher in the shot put, jumping Montclair State's Taniya Giles on her final attempt of 12.12 meters.
• Naesha Gadie and Molly Bossdorf rounded out the point-scorers in the 1500, finishing in seventh and eight with times of 4:56.30 and 4:45.83 respectively.
• Abigail Pfaff placed fourth in the high jump with her mark of 1.47 meters. The senior was followed by Raegan Goldey and Doherty, who tied for eighth at 1.42 meters.
• Bruncaj completed a run of three straight Lions in the 100-meter hurdles, coming in behind Scepkowski in fourth with a time of 15.44.
• Omert and Cameron Ruffini combined for five points in the 400, crossing the line in 59.16 and 1:00.39 respectively.
• Burke and Doherty paired their win in the 4x100 with a sixth- and eighth-place finish in the 100. Burke also finished fourth in the 400-meter hurdles with her time of 1:03.83 while Doherty grabbed sixth in the 200 (26.30).
• Alex Grivas held on to fifth place in the 800, crossing the line in 2:19.16 to beat out Stockton's Amanda McNally.
• Ella Daly grabbed a pivotal point in the 5000, climbing four spots in the back half of the race before finishing eighth with her time of 19:06.92.
• Daranijo capped off her day with a fourth-place finish in the 200, crossing the line in 25.09.

UP NEXT

• The Lions are back in action Monday, May 12 to compete at the Widener Last Chance Meet.