RESULTS

BURLINGTON, Vt.—The UMass Lowell men's track and field team claimed second overall at the 2022 America East Outdoor Track and Field Championships hosted by Vermont on Sunday afternoon.
 
With 195 team points, the River Hawks finished behind reigning champions UAlbany, who earned 235 points. Binghamton rounded out the top three with 112 points for third, followed by New Hampshire, UMBC, Maine, Vermont, NJIT and Hartford.
 
"Both teams competed extremely well this weekend. The team really stepped up over the entire weekend. I'm very proud of their effort," said Head Coach Gary Gardner.
 
The River Hawks maintained their position at the top of the standings with major performances in the middle distance and distance events. In the men's 1,500-meter, all four UMass Lowell runners claimed top marks and a combined 18 points for the team. Leading the crew, graduate student Derek Holmes (Marshfield, Mass.) crossed in 4:01.48 to earn silver in the event. Senior Drew Everett (Amesbury, Mass.) followed close behind Holmes with a 4:01.76 finish for third overall. Junior William Cole-French (Hanoi, Vietnam) and sophomore Paul Neilan rounded out the top eight in sixth and eighth place, respectively. Cole-French stopped the timer at 4:02.74, while Neilan finished at 4:03.35.
 
The 5,000-meter was an all-out win for the River Hawks as the team took all eight scoring positions for a staggering 39 points towards the final team mark. Everett claimed his second medal of the day with a first-place finish in the event, crossing in 14:21.85. Everett was followed by graduate student Benjamin Drezek (Cumberland, R.I.) in 14:22.03 for second and Holmes in 14:22.09 for third. UMass Lowell continued its distance domination as junior John Riley (Quincy, Mass.) took fourth in 14:22.15, graduate student Kyle Cloutier (Lancaster, Mass.) claimed fifth in 14:30.79 and sophomore Hunter Marion (Templeton, Mass.) brought home sixth in a time of 14:36.29. Closing out the top eight, junior Eoin Dooley (Stoneham, Mass.) and senior Joseph Walsh (Auburn, Mass.) crossed in 14:41.23 and 14:42.13, respectively, to place seventh and eighth.
 
"To cap off a great weekend, the men's team placing 1-8 in the 5,000 meters seems to be the first sweep in any event in conference history," commented Gardner. "The guys ran a perfectly executed race. It was awesome to watch."
 
The success followed the River Hawks in the sprints with several competitors picking up points. Senior Joseph Young (Shrewsbury, Mass.) represented UMass Lowell in the men's 200-meter with a solid sixth-place finish off a 21.77 mark. In the men's 400-meter, senior Kashief Bogannam (Kingston, N.H.) took seventh with a final time of 49.34.
 
Sophomores Nicholas Woolsey and Zachary Lalonde (Tewksbury, Mass.), as well as junior Shawn Stairs Jr. (Acworth, Ga.), tackled the 100-meter and 400-meter hurdles for UMass Lowell. The duo of Lalonde and Woolsey battled to the finish, crossing in 15.24 and 15.88 to claim seventh and eighth, respectively. Riding solo in the 400-meter hurdles, Stairs glided into sixth place after posting a final time of 54.35.
 
In the 800-meter race, sophomore Tanner Jellison (Wakefield, Mass.) and graduate student Cody Moran (Weymouth, Mass.) registered top-five times for UMass Lowell. Jellison registered a time of 1:52.46 to claim third, while Moran clocked in at 1:53.51 to take fifth.
 
Bringing their skills to the relays, all three River Hawk relay squads earned top-eight placements across the board. The 4x100-meter squad placed sixth overall, the 4x400-meter team took fifth and the 4x800m group turned in a fourth-place performance.
 
The UMass Lowell fielders wrapped up the weekend with standout showings in the discus, shot put and triple jump events. Tossing the disk, senior Hayden Dillow (Franklin, Mass.) and graduate student DeReginald Walker (Rancho Cordova, Calif.) placed fourth and eighth, respectively, off 156'4" (47.65m) and 147'11" (45.09m) distances.
 
In the shot put, Dillow added to his impressive outing with a seventh-place mark in the shot put after hitting 49'3.75" (15.03m). Joining Dillow with top marks in the shot put, student Patrick Pang (Peabody, Mass.) earned sixth with a 50'2" (15.29m) heave and sophomore Luis Cadime (Lowell, Mass.) grabbed fifth with a 51'4.50" (15.66m) distance.
 
Veteran jumper Evans Oduro (Kumasi, Ghana) rounded out the field with a seventh-place mark of 44'8.25" (13.62m) in the long jump.
 
Closing the books on their two days of events, freshman Luke Stelmach (Sterling, Mass.) and senior Juan Avelino (Santo Domingo, D.R.) concluded their first-ever attempts at the Decathlon. Stelmach claimed seventh with a final 5,229 points, while Avelino took eighth with 3,998 points.
 
The River Hawks continue their post-season push next weekend, May 13-15, at the IC4A/ECAC Championships hosted by William & Mary.