May 27, 2011

Senior Donte Brown (Raynham, Mass.) and sophomore Evan White (Tewksbury, Mass.) each advanced to the finals in their events and clinched All-American honors to lead UMass Lowell on the first day of the NCAA Division II Track and Field Championship at Cal State Stanislaus.

Brown placed second in the 400 meter hurdles preliminary while White took fifth in the 400 meter dash qualifier to highlight a solid first day for the River Hawks.

Seeded sixth, Brown ran the hurdles preliminary in a personal-best 51.43 seconds, just 0.10 seconds off the leader Leford Green of Johnson C. Smith University who won with a time of 51.33. Brown is one of eight to emerge from a field of 16 into Saturday’s final (11:00 p.m.), guaranteeing him All-American status.

The top eight athletes in each final event are named All-Americans.

Brown’s result was also 0.02 seconds shy of matching the school record of 51.41 set by Athletic Hall of Fame member Liam Govostes in 1997.

White, making his third appearance in the NCAA Championship, placed fifth overall with a time of 47.340 seconds and was also one of eight in the field of 18 entries to move on to the final Saturday at 9:55 p.m. (eastern time).

White finished a shade behind freshman Josh Edmonds of St. Augustine, who was fourth in 47.336 seconds. Greene, who won the 400 hurdles preliminary, took first in 46.48 seconds while sophomore Dane Hyatt of Lincoln (Mo.) was runner-up in 46.7 and sophomore Akino Ming of Johnson C. Smith third in 47.34.

Junior Angus MacDonald (Methuen, Mass.) finished 13th in the 1,500 meters preliminary, falling one place short of Saturday’s final. MacDonald ran the course in 3:57.45, a mere 0.17 seconds behind Drew Soucy of Adams State, who placed 12th in 3:57.28.

Junior Mack McLain of Colorado School of Mines won the preliminary in 3:54.36. In the final event of the night, sophomore Jeff Veiga (Lowell, Mass.) placed 16th in the 10,000 meters in 31:04.62.

Both MacDonald and Veiga will run the 5,000 meters Saturday at midnight.

UMass Lowell continues Friday as both the women’s and men’s 4X400 meter relay teams are in preliminary action at 11:20 and 11:40 p.m.