March 12, 2011

Complete Results

After suffering through mishap-filled first day, UMass Lowell's misfortune continued Saturday at the NCAA Division II Indoor Track & Field Championship at the Albuquerque Convention Center.

For the first time in recent memory, UMass Lowell returns home from the NCAA Championship without crowning an All-American.

"This is not at all the outcome that we expected going into the NCAAs," said Head Coach Gary Gardner. "When we started getting unlucky and things started going bad for us on Friday, I think our kids were worried about not failing rather than performing to their potential."

On Friday, sophomore Evan White (Tewksbury, Mass.), seeded No. 1 in the 200 meter dash, was disqualified for stepping outside of his lane. Additionally, UMass Lowell's distance medley relay team never recovered from a tripping incident between the 1,200 and 400 legs en route to a ninth place finish.

The River Hawks opened Saturday in the shot put as freshman Candace Greene (Annapolis, Md.) fouled on her first and third attempts and placed 13th, throwing 42 feet, 11.5 inches on her second attempt.

"As far as the freshmen go, just making this meet and getting experience is all we're looking for," Gardner said. "Now Candace knows what to expect in this caliber of meet and she'll be better for having been here."

With a time of 47.81 seconds Friday night in the 400 meters preliminary, senior Donte Brown (Raynham, Mass.) advanced to Saturday's final, but fell short of All-American honors by one place for the second straight year, placing ninth in 48.33 seconds.

"Donte struggled all weekend," Gardner said. "He always gives us all he has. This weekend he just didn't have it."

UMass Lowell's women's 4X400 meter relay team, seeded third, placed 11th with a time of 3:54.80. Sophomore Shannon Cunningham (Foxboro, Mass.) opened with a 57.39-second leg while junior Nicole Giaquinto (Winthrop, Mass.) followed in 58.07 seconds.

Junior Amy Delgado (Bridgewater, Mass.) ran a 58.16 leg while freshman Elisabeth Monty (Charlton, Mass.), who was recovering from a 102 degree fever early Friday morning, anchored in 61.19 seconds.

"We knew literally on Thursday night that we were in a bit of trouble with Elisabeth," Gardner said. "You just have to roll with it and hope something good happens. Elisabeth ran as hard as she could. All the kids battled and gave us what they had."

The River Hawk men's 4X400 team suffered the same fate, placing ninth in 3:16.73. Sophomore Craig Bennett (Milton, Mass.) opened with a 49.77-second leg while White followed in a speedy 47.20 seconds.

Freshman Keith Lewis (Nashua, N.H.), who replaced injured junior Jeff Wundt (Southwick, Mass.), ran his split in 49.45 while Brown anchored in 50.33.

"Considering he was a last-minute sub, Keith ran well," said Gardner. "I thought Evan ran very well and had one of the fastest splits in the event. But it takes four guys. When you sub off someone as good as Jeff, you can't really afford any hiccups with anyone. Unfortunately we suffered a few hiccups."

UMass Lowell opens the outdoor season Saturday, Apr. 2 at the Fitchburg State Jim Sheehan Invitational.