NEW ORLEANS, La. – Wheaton College (Mass.) women's track & field members Camille Connors (Woburn, Mass.), Michaina Loriston (Boston, Mass.), Wendy Wooden (Sharon, Mass.) and Emily Zielinski (Orange, Conn.) were named to the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association All-East Region Team, it was announced by the USTFCCCA.
The top-5 individuals in each event from each region earned All-Region distinction, in addition to each member of the region's top-3 relay teams. The regions used for this award – East, Great Lakes, Metro, Mid-Atlantic, Mideast, Midwest, Niagara, North, South, and West – match those used during the cross country season.
For the fifth straight season, Wheaton boasted at least four All-Region honorees for the outdoor season.
Loriston and Zielinski both earn All-Region status for the third time, while Connors and Wooden are first-time honorees. Zielinski was chosen in 2022 and 2023 as part of the Lyons' 4X100 relay, while Loriston was selected as part of Wheaton's 4X100 relay in 2023 and 2024 in addition to earning All-Region honors in the 100-meter dash in 2023.
Connors combined with Loriston, Wooden and Zielinski to post a time of 46.45 to place first at the MIT Final Qualifier on May 15 in Cambridge, Mass. The mark was good for the second-fastest in the region, while also ranking as the third-best time in school history. The time also qualified the Lyons for a spot in the NCAA Division III National Championship meet with the 13th-fastest clip in the nation. The quartet served as the Lyons' 'A' relay for the majority of the season with all four runners competing together in five meets, while at least three of the four ran in eight races. Wheaton improved its time by nearly two seconds by the end of the season and finished either first or second on seven occasions, including a pair of wins. The Lyons ran a sub-47-second time twice, clocking in at 46.46 at the Farley Inter Regional Extravaganza on May 10 at host Williams College in Williamstown, Mass. Connors, Wooden and Zielinski joined first year Inez Medeiros (Fall River, Mass.) to place second at the New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference Championship on April 26 to earn Second Team All-Conference accolades. Connors, Loriston, Wooden and Zielinski also claimed runner-up accolades at the New England Division III Outdoor Regional Championship on May 3 at host United States Coast Guard Academy in New London, Conn. Wheaton's four
In addition to earning All-Region designation as part of the Lyons' 4X100 relay, Loriston was also tapped All-Region for the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.77 to top the East. The junior registered the mark in the preliminaries of the NEWMAC Championship to establish a new NEWMAC Championship record to supplant the former mark set by Wheaton's Kim Jones '04 in 2001. Loriston also broke the facility record at the MHC Track & Turf in South Hadley, Mass. A graduate of Boston Prep., Loriston's 100-meter time was the 14th-fastest in the nation to qualify her in the event for the NCAA III National Championship.
