Brunelle posting strong start to outdoor season

By Brenden Soares
Posted 4/20/17

A pair of meets into her second outdoor track season as a collegian, Pilgrim graduate Melanie Brunelle is showing zero signs of a sophomore slump for Rhode Island College. The former Patriot has already been named the Little East

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Brunelle posting strong start to outdoor season

Posted

A pair of meets into her second outdoor track season as a collegian, Pilgrim graduate Melanie Brunelle is showing zero signs of a sophomore slump for Rhode Island College.

The former Patriot has already been named the Little East Conference’s field athlete of the week twice, most recently thanks to her jam-packed day last Saturday at the Connecticut College-hosted Silfen Invitational.

Brunelle placed on the podium in a trio of events in the field, finishing third in the long jump with an effort of 5.54 meters and going one better in the high jump, clearing the bar at 1.58 meters.

However, she saved her best performance for the triple jump, an event that she had claimed top prize in the previous week at the Yellow Jacket Invitational in Springfield, Massachusetts.

Brunelle improved on her winning distance of 10.97 meters by a quarter of a meter, besting the competition with a jump of 11.22 meters that fell just four centimeters short of her top effort from last season.

In addition to her exploits in the field, the sophomore also was in action on the track, competing in the 100-meter hurdles and running the anchor leg for the Anchorwomen in the 4x100 meter relay.

Two more podium finishes were notched by Brunelle, coming home third in the former event with a time of 15.70 seconds, while the 51.40 time recorded in the latter by the RIC quartet placed them ahead of all squads with the exception of Trinity.

As a result of Brunelle’s very productive day that also saw fellow Pilgrim alumna Destinee Barrette win the hammer throw with a toss that traveled 49.83 meters, the Anchorwomen were able to walk away with a sixth-place finish in the team competition.

McCusker breaks record at Coker

Haley McCusker’s junior season at Coker can now carry the label “record-breaking” after what transpired in the Cobras’ April 8 game versus Tusculum.

In what ended up being a 19-14 victory for Coker, the Pilgrim alumna scored her 52nd goal of the campaign with 8:42 remaining in the opening half to set a new program mark for goals in a single season.

McCusker also chipped in with the game-winner, breaking an 8-8 deadlock just over four minutes into the second stanza with an unassisted effort that beat Pioneer netminder Brooke Wagner.

Last Saturday, she was able to add five more goals to her new record, but it wasn’t enough as Coker’s four-game winning streak was snapped by Queens via a 17-10 setback.

McCusker now has 59 goals on the season, having scored at least once in every game for the Cobras this spring while also contributing eight assists.

With a spot in the South Atlantic Conference tournament clinched, two games now remain for Coker in the regular season: a non-league collision with Converse on Tuesday and a conference test versus Lincoln Memorial four days later.

The latter contest against the Railsplitters carries extra meaning for the homestanding Cobras, as a victory will mean that they will host at least a conference quarterfinal for the first time in program history.

A quarterfinal bye can be obtained with help from second-place Wingate, should the Bulldogs fall to conference-leading Queens and Tusculum in their remaining games.

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