BOSTON—The UMass Lowell men's track and field program closed out the weekend for the River Hawks at the David Hemery Valentine Invite hosted by Boston University with a round of breakthrough performances.
 
With conference championships on the horizon, the River Hawks returned to the BU Track and Tennis Center for a round of tune-ups before leaving it all on the track next weekend.
 
"[It was] a really good day overall across the sprints and distance runners," remarked Head Coach Gary Gardner. "We had some really big breakthroughs, which is perfect the week before conference."
 
The UMass Lowell sprinters found their footing with four top-100 performances out of nearly 300 competitors in the men's 200-meter dash. Senior Michael Blake (Hudson, Mass.) led the way with a 21.93 time in the event, coming within milliseconds of his all-time fastest mark. Senior Sean Glass (Haverhill, Mass.), graduate student Joseph Young (Shrewsbury, Mass.) and junior Adam Katerji (Shrewsbury, Mass.) came across next for the River Hawks, clocking in in quick succession at 22.04, 22.19 and 22.44, respectively.
 
The distance contingent kept the success rolling with another batch of strong performances in the mile amongst a flock of 432 professional and collegiate-level runners. Pacing the UMass Lowell crew, graduate student Daniel Cosgrove (Boxford, Mass.) clocked a 4.09.53 mile time to finish in the top half of the packed field. Senior William Cole-French (Hanoi, Vietnam) logged a personal best just a week before the team's biggest test with a final mark of 4:11.71.
 
Building to their final event of the day, the men's 3,000-meter run saw several stellar performances and personal bests across the board. Senior John Riley (Quincy, Mass.) registered an 8:05.56 time in the long-distance race to shave two seconds off his previous fastest time and finish 65th out of 250 runners. Graduate student Drew Everett (Amesbury, Mass.) posted a career performance to finish 82nd overall with a new personal-best time of 8:10.12. Junior Joe Young (Dorchester, Mass.) and sophomore Joseph Curran (Nashua, N.H.) joined their fellow distance runners with career-best marks to land just outside of the top 100, crossing in 8:12.95 and 8:13.21, respectively.
 
With their final regular season meet in the books, the River Hawks turn their attention to the 2023 America East Indoor Track and Field Championships next weekend, Feb. 18-19, at the TRACK at new balance.