SEASON PREVIEW: Women’s Track & Field

NEW LONDON, Conn. — 

The U.S. Coast Guard Academy women’s track & field team are set to start their season on Saturday, December 6th, at Boston University’s Sharon Colyear-Danville Season Opener. This season’s group features a strong senior core leading a group of underclassmen expected to take big steps forward.

Multi-athlete Tara Jessen (Signal Mountain, Tenn.), distance specialist Claire Semerod (Cantennial, Colo.), horizontal jumper Kaylee Wright (Plainwell, Mich.), and pole vaulter Mollie Brinker (Wilminton, N.C.) make up the group of four seniors that will lead the team as this season’s captains. Jessen was named the 2025 New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Track Athlete of the Year after winning the heptathlon and 400 Hurdles at the conference’s championship meet. Coast Guard’s record holder in the outdoor 400 Hurdles was also a United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) All-Region pick. Jessen will start earlier than her teammates, competing at the University of Rhode Island’s season-opening pentathlon tomorrow and Thursday.

Semerod is transitioning into her final season on the track after another dynamic fall on the cross country course. She won the NEWMAC Championship race en route to her fourth career National Championship appearance and second career All-America distinction. Semerod was Second Team All-America in the Distance Medley Relay (DMR) last season as she returns as the New England Division III (NED3) Indor 5k Champion and an All-NED3 competitor in the Mile.

Wright looks forward to another big year in the jump pits after finishing as runner-up in long jump at the NEWMAC Championships, earning her All-Conference distinction. She holds the program record in the event and got up the second spot of the Academy leaderboard in the triple jump in her first year competing in the latter. Wright is also no stranger to the track, where she’s been a member of the third-best and fifth-best 4×100 Relay teams in program history.

Brinker established herself as the Bears top pole vaulter last season, qualifying for the NED3 Outdoor Championship and recording points at NEWMACs after recording the third-best indoor pole vault in program history.

Headlining the team is Allie Wildsmith (Bainbridge Island, Wash.), who cemented herself as the best high jumper in Division III with a pair of dominant performances at the Indoor and Outdoor National Championships, needing just three jumps to win the latter while gunning for the Division III record. The dual champion holds the Academy’s all-time records in both venues, was named NEWMAC Field Athlete of the Year, and was tabbed the USTFCCCA Regional Field Athlete of the Year for her performances during both seasons.

Alaina Stonebraker (Sandy, Utah) is back as Coast Guard’s top sprinter, with her sights set on the 200 and 400 following her strong 2025 outdoor season. Her name can be found throughout the record books as a member of the program record indoor 4×200 and 4×400 teams and the outdoor 4×400 team, as well as on several leaderboards for individual sprints including third in the outdoor 100, second in the outdoor 200, and 4th in the outdoor 400. Stonebraker earned a USTFCCCA All-Region nod in the 4×400 and was All-NED3 in the 4×200 and 4×400.

Lauren Mellon (Falls Church, Va.) also joins Semerod in transitioning from a strong cross country season. She was an All-NED3 performer in the indoor 5k last season, in which she sits fourth on the program leaderboard.

The junior class features Ella Besant (Morehead, Ky.), who joined Stonebraker as a USTFCCCA All-Region mention in the 4×400 and All-NED3 in the 4×200 and 4×400. Besant is also a member of the school record 4×200 and 4×400 teams and a strong individual sprinter in her own right at third on the Academy’s indoor 400 list and fifth in the outdoor 400.

Mia Mastrogiovanni (Manahawkin, N.J.) and Annabel Molner (Bremen, Germany) both return to the track following great cross country seasons. Mastrogiovanni will be aregular in the Mile and 5k, and currently sits sixth all-time on the program’s Steeplechase leaderboard, while Molner is seventh all-time in the 5k. Kate Stebbins (Chapin, S.C.) will also be one to watch in mid-distance as part of the program’s third-best 4×800 team and holding the eighth-best 800 time in program history.

Brooke Hunter (Phillipsburg, N.J.) leads the sophomores as another top cross country runner gearing up for track season, specializing in the Mile and 5k while holding the program’s ninth-best all-time 10k performance. Hannah Edwards (Highland Village, Tex.) and Millie Wymbs (Salisbury, N.C.) will also be names to keep an eye on in relays, with Edwards being part of the third-best 4×800 team and Wymbs running on the fifth-best 4×100 team.

Finally, the women’s track & field team will welcome 13 freshman cadet-athletes into their ranks. Among them are the Corritore twins, Ella and Hailey, who were both forces to be reckoned with in jumping events during their high school careers. Ella specialized in the high and long jump and hurdles, and will join Jessen at URI tomorrow and Thursday, while Hailey competes in the long and triple jumps.

The trio of Starr Hepburn (Stafford, Va.), Josalyn Rush (Toms River, N.J.), and Bianca McIntosh (Woodbridge, Va.) will all have a presence in sprints and relays as strong 200 and 400 runners. Followers of Coast Guard Athletics will remember McIntosh as a rookie standout on the Academy’s women’s soccer team, where she tallied a team-high five assists as a speedy wingback. Kevyn Fish (Pittsburgh, Pa.) will also look to put forth performances on the track that will equal her impressive freshman cross country season, which culminated in All-Region distinction.