BOSTON, Mass. – The UMass Lowell women's indoor track and field team hit the road to begin the 2025-26 indoor season on Saturday, competing in two different events in Massachusetts at the Harvard Classic and at the BU Sharon Colyear-Danville Season Opener. 

"Overall, we are pretty happy with how today went," said Associate Head Coach Allyson Waruch. "The meet had some good competition for people to test themselves and see their preseason work pay off. It's always great to see the upperclassmen have better performances than they did on opening weekend last year. I was pleased to see a lot of freshmen show up to compete how we hoped they could."

The field events at the Harvard Classic commenced the day for the River Hawks, with the women's high jump event up first. Leaping her way into the top-three in the high jump, sophomore Avery Pitts (Willington, Conn.) claimed third place after elevating to a 1.60m mark. Sophomore Chloe Champagne (Brockton, Mass.) was right behind in fourth place after finishing with a 1.55m mark. 

Graduate student Fleur Balogh De Galantha (Grafton, Mass.) led the River Hawks in the women's long jump, earning sixth place after leaping to a 5.44m mark. Next up, freshman Nyrah Joseph (Billerica, Mass.) finished in ninth place with a 5.16m mark, as senior Paige Murphy (Billerica, Mass.) jumped to a mark of 5.01m for 12th place and junior Nethica Auguste (Bridgerwater, Mass.) took 14th place at a 4.94m mark. Rounding out the River Hawks, freshman Zoe Clarke (Dracut, Mass.) obtained a 4.60m mark for 17th place and sophomore Anya Neira (Methuen, Mass.) finished 19th with a 4.30m mark. 

Junior Úna Brice (Cork, Ireland) was the lone competitor for UMass Lowell in the women's pole vault event, rising to a 3.15m mark for sixth place. In the shot put event, junior Nhyira Nkansah (Chelmsford, Mass.) claimed 16th place after launching for a 10.83m mark. Freshman Alessandra Forgione (Peabody, Mass.) was just behind in 17th place, throwing for a 9.62m mark. 

Now heading into the running events for the day at the Harvard Classic, the women's one-mile run was first up for the River Hawks. UMass Lowell soared in the one-mile run, as senior Nia Mainer-Smith (Taunton, Mass.) posted a new personal-best with a time of 5:14.98, earning first place with her efforts. Senior Raihana Yameogo (Dillsburg, Pa.) also ran hard, finishing directly behind in second place at a time of 5:16.34.

The women's 400m run followed for UMass Lowell, with freshman Kathryn Perrone  (Washington, Mass.) finishing in fifth place at a time of 1:02.86, and junior Soria Roberts (Warwick, N.Y.) taking seventh place at 1:04.67. 

Four UMass Lowell runners competed in the women's 60m hurdles first round, with Joseph in front, claiming 18th place at a 9.18 mark. Balogh De Galantha finished next in 21st place after clocking in at 9.36, as junior Shayla Quill (Andover, Mass.) (23rd place, 10.27) and Murphy (24th place, 10.28) rounded out the River Hawks, respectively.  

Next, junior Jayani Santos (Tewksbury, Mass.) ran well in the women's 60m first round, earning fifth place and a new personal-best after crossing the line at 7.69. Also competing for the River Hawks, junior Bridget Geary (Lowell, Mass.) (18th place, 8.22), sophomore Meredith Feener (Walpole, Mass.) (20th place, 8.33), and senior Danielle Thompson (Groton, Mass.) (21st place, 8.39). 

UMass Lowell had one runner in the women's 800m run, as junior Julie Condon claimed fourth place after finishing with a time of 2:23.41. The 200m run came next, as Santos gave it her all, finishing in first place out of the group, crossing the line at 24.84. Thompson and Feener followed for the River Hawks, finishing back-to-back with Thompson in seventh place (26.69), and Fenner in eighth place (26.89). Geary (10th place, 27.05) rounded out the UMass Lowell sprinters in the 200m run, respectively.   

A few River Hawks competed at the Boston University Sharon Colyear-Danville Season Opener on Saturday. In the running events, the women's 5k run was first, as senior Mary-Kate Finn (Nashua, N.H.) claimed 63rd place after clocking in at a personal-best time of 16:13.24. Staying attached, sophomore Georgia Brooks (Groton, Mass.) was next, taking 158th place with a personal-best 17:14.16 mark, and senior Kylie Marion (Baldwinville, Mass.) finished in 163rd place with a personal-best of her own at 17:24.46.

"We had a host of great early season performances," said Head Coach Gary Gardner. "We were extremely happy with all three women in the 5k event, also running personal bests. Overall, the day went as well as we could of hoped." 

"We certainly have a lot of room to get much better across all the events, and I'm excited to watch the team progress together and push each other to want and achieve more," added Waruch.

UMass Lowell is back in action on December 12-13, as the team looks ahead to the Dartmouth Invite, hosted by Dartmouth College, in Hanover, N.H.