The University of Rhode Island women’s track and field team had a jam-packed weekend, which featured three different events to begin its indoor season.
The inaugural event of the indoor season for the Rams was the 30th annual URI Pentathlon on Thursday, Dec. 4. In the event, second-year Lily MacDonald finished fourth overall, totalling 3,448 points.
MacDonald competed in the long jump and shot put, tying with Northeastern University’s second-year Jaice Dorsey for third place with a distance of 5.50 meters in the long jump and throwing 9.94 meters, good for sixth place. Another top performer, third-year Lilly Pittakas, finished first in the 800-meter race with a time of 2:23:14.
On Friday, URI competed in a tri-meet at home with the University of New Hampshire and Stonehill College. The Rams scored 100 points as a team, trailing just behind New Hampshire, who had 104.
The Rams had four first-place finishers on the day: first-year Greta Dahl in the 60-meter run, first-year Zarah Singleton in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 9.02, second-year Allison Vigue in the pole vault and third-year Josie Allred in the high jump.
Finishing out the placings for URI were third-year Madison Boucher, who placed fourth in the weight throw with a score of 15.18 meters, and third-year Charlotte Moscovici, who placed second in the pole vault behind Vigue. As a team, the Rams held the top four spots in the 1,000-meter run.
To round off the weekend, URI traveled to Boston to compete in the Sharon Colyear-Danville Season Opener. Rhode Island had nine athletes participating, with the highest placing being MacDonald in the triple jump, placing first with a distance of 11.71 meters, and second-year Macy Daigle, earning second place in the high jump with a height of 1.63 meters.
The remaining athletes included Singleton, who placed fourth in the 200-meter dash with a time of 25.29, first-year Reagen Garibaldi and third-year Abigail Colella in the 300-meter dash, placing ninth with a time of 39.63 and 13th with a time of 39.90, respectively.
Fourth-year Lily Saul and first-year Keaney Bayha ran in the 3,000-meter, placing 28th with a time of 9:30.29 and 84th with a time of 10:12.43, respectively. To round off the competitors, Rhode Island’s 4×400-meter relay team placed second.
For URI Head Coach Laurie Feit-Melnick, the results were a great way to begin the indoor season.
“We’ve been hosting [the URI Pentathlon] for 30 years,” Feit-Melnick said. “But this is the first time that we’ve ever had a tri-meet on the day after, so that was new for us to host a three-way meet on Friday. The majority of the team competed here on Friday, and then we had nine women compete on Saturday up at [Boston University]. It was exciting, a great way to start the season.”
On the athletes’ side, the same sentiment is shared, according to Vigue.
“We had a ton of really good stuff happen this weekend,” Vigue said. “I know I was only competing at the home meet Friday, but we had a really good showing at the meet in Boston on Saturday. Especially from the underclassmen, I know we had a ton of really good stuff happen. Everyone just really showed up this week.”
Vigue, who set a new personal best on the pole vault, was a standout performer from the weekend, according to Feit-Melnick.
“She did awesome,” Feit-Melnick said. “That’s a top-10 mark. It is just great to see that clearance, and she’s only a sophomore.”
After an action-packed weekend, the team now has a significant period of time off and is setting the scope on the remainder of the season, according to Vigue.
“We haven’t quite verbalized that yet,” Vigue said. “I’m remembering last year. We won New England’s indoor and had eight pretty good showings. I know we’re definitely going to be trying to build up to defending that New England Championship.”
The team will be back in action on Jan. 17, 2026, at the Mackal Field House for the URI Invitational.
