KINGSTON, R.I. – Sophomore Luke Stelmach (Sterling, Mass.) and freshman Derek Munroe (Tewksbury, Mass.) of the UMass Lowell men's track and field team, along with sophomore Fleur Balogh de Galantha (Grafton, Mass.), senior Sydney Lewis (Nashua, N.H.) and freshman Paige Murphy (Billerica, Mass.) of the women's team concluded the two-day URI heptathlon and pentathlon on Friday afternoon.

After finishing day one in seventh and ninth place respectively, the men resumed the heptathlon on day two, as Stelmach capped off a seventh place finish overall with 3,956 points while Munroe finished just behind him in eighth place with 3,934 points in his first career heptathlon. Despite a hand injury and stitches on day one, Stelmach persevered through the pain to finish the event. 

"Luke had to get stitches in his hand yesterday from the long jump," said head coach Gary Gardner. "Today, he did decent in the hurdles, ran through the pole vault and ran an excellent 1,000m."       

Stelmach started the day on a great note, earning a second-place finish in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.74. Coming in 11th place was Munroe, who collected 475 points and a 10.36 mark.

The pole vault served as the penultimate event in the men's heptathlon. Munroe was the only River Hawk to record a score due to Stelmach's injury, reaching the 3.25 mark for sixth place overall.

The seventh and final event in the men's heptathlon was the 1,000-meter run. In a neck-and-neck finish, Stelmach narrowly picked up the victory by just 0.07 seconds, earning a 2:50.33 mark to claim seventh overall in the meet. Munroe, in his first collegiate 1,000-meter run, finished in 6th place with a time of 2:56.04, giving him the eighth spot overall.

"Derek had a good first heptathlon in college," claimed Gardner. "There is room for improvement in all events."      

On the women's side, Balogh de Galantha was the highest River Hawk on the leader board at the end of the day, finishing in sixth place with 3,124 points. Lewis ended up in 14th place with 2,765 points and Murphy came in 17th with a total of 2,632 points.

"The women, overall, had a decent start," remarked Gardner. "There were some really good events and others were still rusty from being early in the season."  

Balogh de Galantha was the first River Hawk to cross the finish line in the 60-meter hurdle event, claiming 11th place with a time of 9.69. Lewis followed her with a 14th-place finish and a 9.87 mark while Murphy recorded a new personal-best time of 10.41 on her way to 17th place.

The women then shifted their focus to the high jump where Lewis earned a share of third place, reaching 1.60m. Balogh De Galantha had an impressive showing as well, logging a 1.57-meter jump to tie for seventh place. Murphy tied her personal-best high jump mark of 1.45, garnering a share of 11th place with four other competitors.

The day continued with the women's shot put, where Balogh de Galantha had a top-three finish. On her third attempt, she threw a personal-best 10.26m, shooting her up the leader boards into third place. In Murphy's first collegiate shot put event, she performed well, finishing in sixth place with a distance of 9.47m. Lewis earned an 18th-place finish with a 7.35-meter throw.

The River Hawks returned to jumping for the fourth event, the long jump. Balogh de Galantha's 5.09-meter jump was good for a share of seventh place, barely missing her personal-best by 0.01m. Lewis reached 4.62m for 14th place, while Murphy finished in 17th place with a 4.52-meter leap in her first collegiate long jump.

The women wrapped up the pentathlon with the 800-meter run where Balogh de Galantha topped her personal-best with a time of 2:44.53 to claim eighth place. Murphy's first 800 went well, earning 11th place and a time of 2:46.46, while Lewis went on to finish in 15th place with a time of 2:48.80.

"Really good 800-meter races for the three women," concluded Gardner.

Next up, the UMass Lowell men's and women's track and field teams will co-host the Beacon Invitational along with UMass Boston tomorrow, Saturday, December 10 at the TRACK at New Balance in Boston, Mass.