LOWELL, Mass. – The UMass Lowell track and field team hosted its annual George Davis Invitational on Saturday, marking the first meet on the brand new track surface at the school's Cushing Field Complex.
 
"It was great to have our first home meet in two years," said Head Coach Gary Gardner. "It's an advantage to not have to travel to a meet for the first time this year. It's was great to christen the new track with some quality competition, too. The weather was iffy, but overall, it really helped us work out the kinks before hosting the America East Championships in a couple weeks."
 
In the field for the River Hawk women, junior Rachel Hill (North Reading, Mass.) won the pole vault with a leap of 10'11.75". Senior Chloe Eressy (Centerville, Mass.) finished first in the shot put with a throw of 45'10.50"and freshman Erin Jensen (Brimfield, Mass.) took second in high jump with a mark of 5'4.25", as well.
 
"Rachel, Chloe and Erin have all been super consistent performers for us," added Gardner.
 
On the track, junior Izzy Giesing (Bradford, Vt.) won the 1500-meter event in a PR time of 4:28.15. Additionally, senior Kristin Hohenstein (Chelmsford, Mass.) won the 400m hurdles in 1:03.71 and senior Lauren Eddy (Grafton, Mass.) won the 400-meter race in 57.66. Senior Jenna Solimine (Haverhill, Mass.) (10:21.59) took second in the 3000-meter, while graduate student Kaley Richards (Lowell, Mass.) (2:10.11) and junior Avery Leydon (Woburn, Mass.) (2:12.86) finished back-to-back in second and third in the 800m, which marked a new PR for Richards in that event.
 
For the men, senior Derek Holmes (Marshfield, Mass.) won the 5k in a time of 14:27.21 to beat out Ezra Mutai, the 2019 DII Cross Country National Champion from American International. Freshman Jake Velazquez (Keene, N.H.) also placed fifth in that event in 14:59. Senior Daniel Cosgrove (Boxford, Mass.) won the men's two-mile run with a 9:15.44 finish. Freshman Hunter Marion (Templeton, Mass.) would follow, crossing the finish line in 9:38.37 for fourth place.
 
In the short distance events, sophomore Michael Blake (Hudson, Mass.) won the 100-meter in 10.95. Blake also took second in the 200m (22.12), while junior Joseph Young (Shrewsbury, Mass.) (22.52) ran to a fourth-place finish.
 
"Mike turned in a quality time in the cool weather in the 100," explained Gardner.
 
Finally, the River Hawk men went one-two in the 4x100m relay. The four-man team of Young, Blake, Marion and sophomore Sean Glass (Haverill, Mass.) took the top spot in 42.48. Freshmen Ryan D'Agostino (Billerica, Mass.), Zachary Lalonde (Tewksbury, Mass.), Rodrigo Freitas (Billerica, Mass.) and Adam Katerji (Shrewsbury, Mass.) finished just behind them in a time of 43.68.
 
The River Hawks will be back in action next weekend on Saturday, April 24 when they take part in the Pre-Conference Invite hosted by New Hampshire.