Results

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.—Back in action for the first time in 2022, the UMass Lowell women's track and field program earned a fourth-place finish at the Beantown Challenge hosted by Harvard on Saturday afternoon at Gordon Indoor Track.
 
Sweeping the event for both the men and women, Connecticut led the pack with 167 points overall. The host Crimson followed the Huskies in second with 100.5 points and Dartmouth in third with 97.5. The River Hawks fell just outside the top three, bringing in 75 total points for fourth overall.
 
"I'm so pleased with the work the team did over the break. We came back with some outstanding performances," commented Head Coach Gary Gardner.
 
The River Hawks' middle distance and distance contingent excelled in their first meet of the new year, accounting for 62 of UMass Lowell's 75 points.
 
Starting strong with the women's 500-meter, junior Avery Leydon (Woburn, Mass.) handily took first with a 1:15.57, just a second off her career-best mark. Just behind her, graduate student Kristin Hohenstein (Chelmsford, Mass.) snagged second place by edging out Connecticut's Sophia Castronovo by fractions of a second to cross the line at 1:16.03.
 
Moving up into the 1,000-meter run, the middle-distance pair comprised of junior Chelsea Lynch (Amesbury, Mass.) and freshman Vivian Mac (Randolph, Mass.) collected sixth and eighth-place marks after clocking in at 3:02.47 and 3:18.62 in their first-ever collegiate attempts.
 
The women's mile proved to be one of the strongest events of the day for UMass Lowell, with Mackenzie Doyle (Swansea, Mass.) cruising into third place with a career-best 5:08.58 mark. The junior held a steady pace through the first portion of the race, keeping towards the front of the pack. Doyle then applied pressure moving into the penultimate lap to push past Connecticut's Katelynn Romanchick to move into third. She battled to maintain her spot in the top three heading into the bell lap to secure six points for the River Hawks.
 
Adding to the UMass Lowell total, senior Olivia Sheffield (Lowell, Mass.) clocked in just after Doyle at 5:08.58 for fourth place and five points. Freshman Sarah Ross (Agawam, Mass.) and sophomore Asaliah Mirambeaux (Lowell, Mass.) filled out the final scoring slots with sixth and seventh place in their first-ever attempts at the mile, coming in at 5:20.00 and 5:36.94, respectively.
 
In the final distance challenge of the day, the River Hawks left it on the track with four runners scoring in the 3,000-meter. Pacing the crew, graduate student Kaley Richards (Lowell, Mass.) cruised across the line first with a 9:33.39 finishing time. Senior Izzy Giesing (Bradford, Vt.) scored next for UMass Lowell, coming in second overall off a career-best 9:45.76 time. Joining Giesing with a new personal record, graduate student Jenna Solimine (Haverhill, Mass.) claimed fourth and picked up five points with her 9:55.20 mark. Rounding out the event, freshman Delaney Swanson (Swanzey, N.H.) had a solid outing in her first collegiate 3,000-meter, finishing eighth in a competitive field at 10:56.03.
 
In the field, senior Rachel Hill (North Reading, Mass.) cleared 3.56-meters (11'8") in the pole vault for fourth in the event, adding five points for the River Hawks.
 
In the women's triple jump, sophomores Wonuola Ashaju (Lagos, Nigeria) and Alexandria Grasso (North Reading, Mass.) leaped to 10.99-meter (36'0.75") and 10.90-meter (35'9.25") marks to finish seventh and eighth, respectively, and earn a combined five points.
 
UMass Lowell returns to the track next weekend when the team pays a visit to Rhode Island for the Sorlein Invite on January 15 at the Mackal Fieldhouse.