ALBANY, N.Y. – The UMass Lowell men's track and field team made history on Sunday at the 2023 America East Outdoor Championships, winning its first outdoor conference championship in program history. To make it even sweeter, the victory completes the triple crown for the men's squad, becoming America East Champions in all three consecutive seasons this year, including cross country, and both indoor and outdoor track and field.  

The River Hawks soared to the top of the leaderboard in Sunday's day two, and ended with 198 total points. The hosts, UAlbany, finished second with 158 points, while Binghamton's 104 points was good for third place. With the victory, Head Coach Gary Gardner and his staff were named the 2023 America East Outdoor Track and Field Coaching Staff of the Year.

"I could not be happier for the team this weekend and really the entire year," said Gardner. "Any time we have asked them to step up, they always have." 

Freshman Derek Munroe (Tewksbury, Mass.) definitely stepped up, and was named the 2023 America East Track and Field Most Outstanding Rookie for his victory in the men's decathlon, which consists of 10 different events, both on the track and the field. He finished first in the javelin (49.94m), pole vault (4.00m), discus (37.46m) and shot put (12.83m), placing atop the leaderboard in four of 10 events. He also ended the day third in the 1,500m (4:54.50), fourth in the 400m (53.02), fifth in both the 110m hurdles (17.54) and long jump (6.17m), and sixth in both the high jump (1.70m) and 100m dash (11.62) to collect 6,213 points and the gold medal. 

Junior Michael Makiej also brought home some extra hardware, earning the America East Track and Field Elite 18 Award for posting the highest GPA of any athlete to finish top eight during the weekend, proving his hard work in both the classroom and athletics. Makiej took fifth place in the high jump on Sunday, clearing 1.97m. 

A victory was earned in the 400m, as graduate student Joseph Gaudreau (Wilmington, Mass.) finished first with a personal-best time of 47.14. Hunter Marino also earned a personal-best 48.29 mark in the 400 for fifth place, while Bradley Diaz finished in seventh with a personal-best time of his own at 48.63. Gaudreau went on to break his personal record in the 200m as well, finishing second with a 21.57 mark. Joseph Young was just behind him in fifth with a time of 22.01.

Junior Joe Young Jr. (Dorchester, Mass.) picked up a victory in the 5K to earn 10 points for the team. He crossed the finish line at 14:39.69, while senior John Riley (Quincy, Mass.) finished second with a time of 14:44.46. Junior Hunter Marion (Templeton, Mass.) (14:56.60), senior Jeffrey Allen (Litchfield, Mass.) (14:58.96), sophomore Landen Vaillancourt (New Ipswich, N.H.) (15:01.39) and graduate student Drew Everett (15:04.13) all finished consecutively from fifth place to eighth place, respectively. 

An impressive performance out of sophomore Graham Stedfast (Rowley, Mass.) tallied some much-needed points for the River Hawks, as he finished second in the 800m with a personal-best time of 1:51.57 to lead the way. Graduate student Sean O'Neill finished in seventh with a 1:54.65 mark. 

Graduate student Daniel Cosgrove (Boxford, Mass.) was another River Hawk to accumulate a second-place finish, running the 1,500m in 3:52.82. Sophomore Andrew Benassi (Reading, Mass.) finished in sixth with a time of 3:54.34, while junior Paul Neilan came in at 3:54.63 for seventh. 

Senior Michael Blake (Hudson, Mass.) came up huge for the team in the 100m dash, breaking his personal record and finishing in third place with a time of 10.58, just barely beating the fourth-place finisher by less than one tenth of a second. 

The squad found success in the relays as well, posting some impressive times. In the 4x100, the team of Young, junior Adam Katerji (Shrewsbury, Mass.), senior Sean Glass (Haverhill, Mass.) and Blake earned the second-fastest 4x100 time in program history with a 41.42 mark and second-place finish. Another second-place finish came in the 4x800 relay with the group of Cosgrove, Benassi, freshman Basit Iddris (Milford, Mass.) and freshman Jonathan Stock, coming in at 7:36.21. The final relay team was the 4x400m, which consisted of Marino, senior Thomas Jordan (Needham, Mass.), Katerji and Diaz. The squad finished in sixth with a 3:15.59 mark. 

Joining Makiej as point-scorers in the field events was junior Luis Cadime (Lowell, Mass.), who performed well in the shot put, tossing 15.53 meters for third place. The triple jump duo of senior Evans Oduro (Kumasi, Ghana) and graduate student Elie Kalambayi (Lynn, Mass.) also put up points for the River Hawks. Oduro leaped a personal-best distance of 14.20m for fifth place, while Kalambayi finished in seventh with a personal-best 14-meter jump.

"This is a very special group of people who care about the team more than themselves and sacrifice individual achievements for team points," said Gardner. "What more can you ask for as a coach?"