ALBANY, N.Y. – Picking up a plethora of individual conference champions and finals qualifiers, the UMass Lowell men's track and field team concluded day one of the 2023 America East Outdoor Championships hosted by UAlbany atop the leaderboard with 68 points.

"The team advanced the numbers we hoped to advance to the finals, which sets us up for a good day tomorrow," said Head Coach Gary Gardner. 

One of the many highlights of the day was the javelin performance from sophomore James Kotowski (Stoneham, Mass.). Kotowski smashed not only his personal record but also the 25-year-old America East record, reaching a whopping 71.78m. This comes just one week after defeating 13 other throwers at the Penn Relays to become a Penn Relays Champion with a 70.42m throw. 

"The men had some outstanding performances today, led by James Kotowski," said Gardner. "Personal-best, conference record and a win in the javelin. He's been getting better every week, so it was great to see that throw." 

The 1,500m qualifier also saw a River Hawk victory, as graduate student Daniel Cosgrove (Boxford, Mass.) won the day with a time of 3:53.41. Sophomore Andrew Benassi (Reading, Mass.) was just behind him in fourth place (3:53.49), while Paul Neilan also qualified for Sunday with the ninth-fastest time (4:01.21). 

Sophomore Graham Stedfast (Rowley, Mass.) ended the day with the fastest 800m time, qualifying with a 1:51.83 mark. Graduate student Sean O'Neill (New Egypt, N.J.) will join him in Sunday's finals, finishing fifth with a time of 1:52.82. 

In the 3,000m steeplechase, the River Hawk duo of junior Joe Young (Dorchester, Mass.) and graduate student Joe Walsh (Auburn, Mass.) finished consecutively in first and second place, respectively, to pick up some crucial points for the team. Young finished with a time of 9:04.99, just before Walsh crossed the finish line at 9:06.57. 

This was not the first race where the River Hawks went one and two however, as senior John Riley (Quincy, Mass.) and graduate student Drew Everett (Amesbury, Mass.) took the top two spots in the 10K. Riley became a back-to-back 10K winner after winning it last year, earning a time of 30:55.43, finishing just before Everett, who collected a 30:56.79 mark. 

"John Riley started to bounce back last week at Penn Relays," commented Gardner. "To see him repeat in the 10K was awesome."     

Senior Michael Blake (Hudson, Mass.) was the lone River Hawk to compete in the 100m dash, qualifying in eighth place with a 10.77 mark, while freshman Alejandro Lynch will represent the squad in the 400m hurdle finals after qualifying in seventh place with a time of 55.11.

In the 400m dash, graduate student Joseph Gaudreau (Wilmington, Mass.) was the fastest River Hawk of the day, finishing in second with a 48.36 mark. Senior Hunter Marino (Weymouth, Mass.) (48.87) and freshman Bradley Diaz (Billerica, Mass.) (48.97) also advanced, finishing consecutively in seventh and eighth. Gaudreau also qualified for the 200m dash finals with a third-place, 21.46-second finish, along with graduate student Joseph Young (Shrewsbury, Mass.), who took ninth with a time of 21.87. 

In the day one field events, along with Kotowski's javelin victory, junior Maxwell Davis (Stoneham, Mass.) earned a third-place finish in the pole vault, reaching a height of 4.55m. Senior Evans Oduro (Kumasi, Ghana) picked up a point for the River Hawks in the long jump, leaping to a 6.95 mark, as well. 

Freshman Derek Munroe (Tewksbury, Mass.) competed in the decathlon for the River Hawks, ending day one in second place with 3,234 points, just 236 behind the leader. He finished sixth in the 100m dash (11.62), fifth in the long jump (6.17m), first in the shot put (12.83m), tied for sixth in the high jump (1.70m) and fourth in the 400m dash (53.02). Sunday, he will compete in the 110m hurdles, discus, pole vault, javelin and 1,500m run to round out the decathlon.

The River Hawks will return to UAlbany tomorrow, Sunday, May 7 for the America East Championships finale.