CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - The Lesley University men's and women's track and field teams will be competing in the North Atlantic Conference (NAC) Outdoor Track and Field Championships this weekend on Saturday, April 26. This year's championship will be held at Colby College and going into Saturday's championship meet, the Lynx are projected to finsih fifth in both the men's and women's pre-championship polls (12 points each).
On the men's side, Thomas and UMaine Farmington are both tied for first in the polls at 33 points and three first place votes each. The rest of the top five is rounded out by Husson (24 points), UMaine Presque Isle (13 points), and Lesley. Meanwhile, on the women's side, Husson is projected to finish first with 32 points and four first place votes followed by Thomas (31 points), UMaine Farmington (26 points), VTSU Johnson (16 points), and Lesley to round out the top five.
For the men's team, the Lynx will have multiple student-athletes competing for them in both track and field events. Hezekiah Brown (Stafford, Va.) will be play a key role for the Lynx in multiple events such as the long jump. At the Sean Collier Invitational, Brown set a program record with a leap of 7.03m which resulted in an overall second place finish and qualified him for the New England Intercollegiate Amateur Athletic Association Outdoor Tracka and Field Championships held on May 9. His mark not only is a program best, but is also the best in the entire NAC. In track events, Brown has set program records in both the 100m and 200m. In the 100m, he set a new program record with a time of 11.31 seconds (24th place-Sean Collier Invitational) – broke his own previous record and in the 200m, he set a program record with a time of 22.92 seconds (25th place-Sean Collier Invitonal). In terms of where he ranks within the conference for these events, Brown is currently second.
In his Lesley track and field debut, Jelanie Morgan (Atlanta, Ga.) has made a great impact since joining the Lynx. In track events this year, Morgan ran a personal best of 11.96 seconds in the 100m at the Sean Collier Invitational whcih is the third fastest time in program history. Morgan also took part in shotput this year as well and in his lone time competing in this event, he had the second longest toss in program history at 9.19m. Continuing with the theme of throwers, first year thrower Osmin Castaneda (East Boston, Mass.) had a strong rookie campaign for the Lynx. At the Ed Daniels Invitational, Castaneda broke the Lesley freshman program record in shotput with a toss of 8.71m which also marked the third best in program history as well.
On the women's side, the Lynx recieved multiple contributions all season from a variety of student-athletes. One of the Lynx's solid contributors was first year runner Rebecca Hall (Richmond, Vt.). She led the Lynx at the Sean Collier Invitational with a personal record in the 800m at 2:55.58 (32nd place). In the 1500m, she ran a career best at the Jonathan Tymann Invitational crossing the finish line at 5:52.09. In the 5000m at the Ed Daniels Invitational, she recorded a top-15 finish (12th) with a time of 22:12.35. Her time not only is a Lesley freshman record, but also a personal record. Continuing with the theme of first time runners, Estephany Morales (New York, N.Y.) has also had a strong first year in track and field. In her collegiate debut at the Jonathan Tymann Invitational, she earned an eighth place finish in the 400m at 1:24.65. During the Sunshine Classic at Tufts, she competed in the 800m and crossed the finish line in 19th place at 3:38.96. Her time not only was a personal record, but it was also her first time competing in that event. Another first year runner in Meriell Wordell (Newton, Mass.) set a carrer best at the Tufts Snowflake Classic with a time of 14.34 seconds.
While the first year student-athletes have made impacts for the Lynx this outdoor season, the returners also had strong 2025 campaigns as well. MacKenzie Mann (Franklin, Mass.) was one of the squad's solid runners especially in the 800m where she set a new career best time of 3:10.54 at the Jonathan Tymann Invitational. Meanwhile, fellow returnee Holly Swinamer (Franklin, Mass.) also had a personal best of her own in the 1500m when she crossed the finish line at 8:06.24 at the Jonathan Tymann Invitational.