ALLSTON, Mass. – The UMass Lowell track & field team took on the Harvard Crimson Elite on Friday at Harvard University. 

"A good day one for the weekend," said head coach Gary Gardner. "I'm looking forward to tomorrow."

The day started with day one of the multi, where sophomore Luke Stelmach (Sterling, Mass.) and freshman Derek Munroe (Tewksbury, Mass.) competed. They finished the day in fourth and fifth place respectively as Stelmach tallied 2,658 points and Munroe collected 2,523. Stelmach finished in fourth in both the 60 meter dash (7.35) and the long jump (6.20m). He also finished in fifth in the shot put, throwing a distance of 11.55 meters and cleared 1.87 meters in the high jump for third place. Munroe finished fifth in the 60 meter dash (7.48), long jump (6.09m) and high jump (1.69m), while earning a second-place finish in the shot put (12.92m).    

In the running events, junior Madison Marsh (Dudley, Mass.) broke her personal record in the 60 meter dash qualifier, crossing with a time of 7.67 and earning a second-place finish. Junior Alexis Lefaivre (Newport, Vt.) (8.13), freshman Willow Novak (Guilderland, N.Y.) (8.20), junior Rebecca Crosier (Shaftsbury, Vt.) (8.20) and graduate student Tatum Pecci (Tewksbury, Mass.) (8.46) also competed in the 60 meter dash qualifiers.

"Madison Marsh continues to run well in the dash," said Gardner. 

For the men, 12 River Hawks participated in the 60 meter dash qualifier, with junior Baijeon Bookal leading the way with a personal-best time of 7.00 seconds, finishing in 20th place out of 45. Junior Aras Kaya (Winchester, Mass.) and graduate student Joseph Gaudreau (Wilmington, Mass.) finished consecutively in 23rd and 24th place while senior Michael Blake (Hudson, Mass.) and junior Adam Katerji (Shrewsbury, Mass.) also finished back-to-back in 29th and 30th. Senior Hunter Marino (Weymouth, Mass.) and graduate student Elie Kalambayi (Lynn, Mass.) were the third pair of River Hawks to cross the line consecutively, in 33rd and 34th place while graduate student Kashief Bogannam (Kingston, N.H.) (7.24), freshman Kaden Taparausky (Dudley, Mass.) (7.29), senior Sean Glass (Haverhill, Mass.) (7.31) and sophomore Ben Ayotte (Salisbury, Mass.) (7.32) finished consecutively in 38th-41st place. Junior Rodrigo Freitas (Billerica, Mass.) also competed, finishing in 44th.   

Junior Alexandria Grasso (North Reading, Mass.) raced in the 60 meter hurdles preliminary race, finishing in ninth place with a time of 8.85, just barely missing her personal best by 0.02 seconds. Graduate student Nina Tasker (Lebanon, Maine) also ran well, finishing with a 9.28 mark for 17th place. Senior Sydney Lewis (Nashua, N.H.), sophomore Fleur Balogh de Galantha (Grafton, Mass.) and freshman Paige Murphy (Billerica, Mass.) also competed. Lewis (9.53) and Balogh de Galantha (9.55) finished back-to-back in 19th and 20th respectively while Murphy (9.91) finished in 22nd.

In the field events, junior Michael Makiej (Andover, Mass.) earned a share of seventh place in the high jump, reaching 1.91 meters. Junior Maxwell Davis (Stoneham, Mass.) competed in the pole vault, clearing a height of 4.37m for 13th place. 

In the women's high jump, a pair of River Hawks finished tied for seventh place, as Balogh de Galantha and junior Erin Jensen (Brimfield, Mass.) both jumped a height of 1.65m. Lewis earned 10th-place honors with a jump of 1.55m, while senior Isabella Ha (Chester Heights, Pa.) finished in 14th with a height of 1.50m.

Stelmach and Munroe will now complete the heptathlon on day two of the Crimson Elite tomorrow, February 4, while more River Hawks are set to compete at the Scarlet and White Invitational hosted by Boston University at the same time.