Margaret LaRoche
  • chemical engineering
  • Class of 2018
  • Silver Lake, N.H.

Margaret LaRoche of Silver Lake, N.H., Has Successful Weekend at Track and FIeld All-New Englands and BU Last Chance Meet

2017 Mar 11

Margaret LaRoche turned in a quality performance at the All-New England Championships or the BU Last Chance Meet February 24-26.

The men's 4x400-meter relay and women's distance medley relay team each set a new record as the track and field programs were busy this past weekend with the All-New England All-Divisions Championships and the BU Last Chance Meet. Individually. Freshman Sydney Packard and senior Austin Scott set school records in the 800 and mile, respectively.

Freshman Alex Rus, junior Paul-Henry Schoenhagen, sophomore Ryan Wittenberg and junior Warren Staver collaborated for a second-place, and new record, time of 3:17.47 on Saturday to earn All-New England honors at the NEICAAA Championships at the Reggie Lewis Center. Their converted time of 3:20.63 is 13th overall, but more importantly 11th when the second teams from Wisconsin-Eau Claire and Wisconsin-La Crosse are removed. Rus and Schoenhagen returned to action Sunday and clocked heat-winning times of 49.22 and 49.54 in the 400-meter dash. Rus also posted a 22.23 in the 200-meter dash, just .03 off the current record. Scott finished his mile run on Sunday with a school-record 4:13.46.

Junior Maggie LaRoche, freshman Sydney Packard, junior Lea Strangio and junior Emily Newman reset their record at the All-New England championships Friday with a 10th-place time of 12:23.81. Packard and Strangio also competed at the BU event on Sunday as they placed seventh and 11th in the 800-meter run with times of 2:12.52 10 and 2:13.67. Both times were better than the old standard held by Strangio. Packard jumped up 24 spots to 10th with her converted time of 2:14.05. Strangio, meanwhile, is 17th (2:15.21) on the NCAA Division III performance list.

About Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Founded in 1865 in Worcester, Mass., WPI is one of the nation's first engineering and technology universities. Its 14 academic departments offer more than 50 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in science, engineering, technology, business, the social sciences, and the humanities and arts, leading to bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees. WPI's talented faculty work with students on interdisciplinary research that seeks solutions to important and socially relevant problems in fields as diverse as the life sciences and bioengineering, energy, information security, materials processing, and robotics. Students also have the opportunity to make a difference to communities and organizations around the world through the university's innovative Global Projects Program. There are more than 40 WPI project centers throughout the Americas, Africa, Asia-Pacific, and Europe.