BUZZARDS BAY, Mass. -- The Bears of Bridgewater State University and the Owls of Westfield State University are the pre-season picks to win their respective 2013 Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference Men’s & Women’s Outdoor Track & Field championships in a vote of the league’s coaches.

Bridgewater State captured four first place votes on the men’s side to amass 22 points and outdistance runner-up Westfield State’s total of 20 points that included the other first place vote. Worcester State follows in third place with 17 points, while Fitchburg State and Massachusetts Maritime rounded out the poll in fourth and fifth place with 10 and six points, respectively.

Westfield State claimed all five first place votes on the women’s side in collecting 25 points to top Worcester State, which amassed 20 points. Bridgewater State follows in third place with 16 points, while Fitchburg State and Massachusetts Maritime rounded out the poll in fourth and fifth place with 10 and five points, respectively.

The Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference, the nation’s oldest Division III men’s and women’s playing conference, has a rich and storied tradition of competitive success while celebrating excellence in the classroom. MASCAC member schools include Bridgewater State University, Fitchburg State University, Framingham State University, MCLA, Massachusetts Maritime Academy, Salem State University, Westfield State University and Worcester State University.

Two other institutions, the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth and Plymouth State University, are affiliate members of the conference in the sports of football and men’s ice hockey, while Western Connecticut State University will join the conference as an affiliate member in the sport of football for the 2013-14 academic year.

(Courtesy of Jim Seavey, MASCAC Director of Media Relations)