Results | Day One Photo Gallery

BOSTON – The UMass Lowell men's track & field team traveled to the TRACK at new balance on Monday for the first day of the 2024 America East Indoor Track & Field Championships. The squad saw success, finishing the day in third place with 34 points.
 
Binghamton concluded opening day with the lead, scoring 46 points, while New Hampshire sits in second with just two more points than the River Hawks.
 
"On the men's side, we put ourselves in a good position advancing people to finals," said Associate Head Coach Ally Waruch.
 
Junior Luke Stelmach (Sterling, Mass.), sophomore Derek Munroe (Tewksbury, Mass.) and freshman Brandon Riley (Weymouth, Mass.) got the day, as well as the heptathlon, started with the heptathlon 60m dash, each breaking their personal record and claiming a spot in the top three. Riley led the way with a 7.06 mark, while Stelmach finished second with a time of 7.25 and Munroe came in with a time of 7.27. Riley then went on the win the heptathlon long jump with another personal-best mark of 6.78m. Munroe (6.09m) and Stelmach (5.88m) finished in eighth and 10th place, respectively.
 
Moving on to the heptathlon shot put, Munroe got the win with a 12.784-meter toss, as Stelmach finished just behind him in second place with a 12.38m mark. Riley claimed fourth place with a personal-best mark of 11.61m. The final heptathlon event of day one was the high jump, where Stelmach led the squad, clearing 1.90m for a tie for first place. Riley's 1.87-meter jump was good for a share of third place, while Munroe broke his high jump personal record and earned a 1.78m mark for a tie for seventh. Riley now sits in first place in the heptathlon heading into day two with 2,893 points, while Stelmach (2,700 points) and Munroe (2,656 points) hold second and third place, respectively.
 
"Brandon Riley PR'd in all 4 of his events today and is in great position, along with Luke and Derek for day 2," said Waruch.
 
In the fields event, senior Maxwell Davis (Stoneham, Mass.) performed well, clearing 4.50m, which is just shy of his personal best. Senior Evans Oduro (Kumasi, Ghana) also put some points on the board for the River Hawks, scoring four by placing fifth in the long jump with a 6.87m leap.   
 
In the running events, three River Hawks qualified for the 60m hurdles finals with personal-best times, as sophomore Tristan O'Riorden won the preliminaries with an 8.45 mark, just before freshman teammate Nidlaire Olivier (Lowell, Mass.) finished in second with a time of 8.48. Stelmach was the third River Hawk to qualify, placing fifth with an 8.51 mark. The men followed that up with two more finals qualifiers in the 60m dash in freshman Daniel Kennedy (Tolland, Conn.) and senior Baijeon Bookal. Kennedy finished with a personal-best time of 6.86 in fifth place, while Bookal came in with a personal-best 6.91 mark.
 
"The men's hurdlers started the meet off on a high note and was a great motivator for the team," said Waruch.
 
Moving on to the 400m dash preliminaries, graduate students Hunter Marino (Weymouth, Mass.) and Tommy Jordan (Needham, Mass.) both qualified for finals, as Marino finished in fifth with an indoor personal-best time of 48.93 and Jordan took seventh with a time of 49.02. In the 500m dash, sophomore Bradley Diaz won the preliminaries with a time of 1:04.51. Sophomores Michael Soucy (Methuen, Mass.) and Alejandro Lynch came in sixth and seventh place, respectively with personal best times of 1:05.34 and 1:05.39.
 
Towards the end of the day, the River Hawks distance runners showed up in the 5K, as all four runners in the race finished within the top seven, earning points for the team. Senior Joe Young (Dorchester, Mass.) led the way, earning a bronze medal with a time of 14:44.25. Senior Tyler Sullivan (Walpole, Mass.) finished directly behind him in fourth place with a 14:45.09 mark, just before junior William Benoit (Fairhaven, Mass.) claimed fifth place with a time of 14:46.10. Junior Landen Vaillancourt (New Ipswich, N.H.) came in at 14:52.53 for seventh-place honors.
 
The final event of the day for the men was the 4K distance medley relay, and the team of senior Paul Neilan, senior Adam Katerji (Shrewsbury, Mass.), senior Jake Connolly (Weymouth, Mass.) and junior Andrew Benassi (Reading, Mass.) took home a bronze medal with a 10:00.66 mark to gain six points for the River Hawks, ending the day strong.
 
The River Hawks will now return to the TRACK at new balance tomorrow, February 20 for day two of the 2024 America East Indoor Track & Field Championship, where a champion will be crowned at the end of the day.