PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The majority of the UMass Lowell men's track and field team traveled to Providence Friday afternoon to compete in the Friar Invitational, while sophomore Keegan Tierney (East Greenwich, R.I.) made his 10,000m debut at the Silfen Invitational at Connecticut College.

"There were tough conditions tonight with the rain and mid-40s temperatures, which is not ideal, but the team raced well," said Head Coach Gary Gardner. "Some of our younger athletes had nice breakthroughs and are learning to race at this level."

The team kicked it off with the 400m hurdles, where junior Tristan O'Riorden finished second with a 55.11 mark, before junior Alejandro Lynch (Somerville, Mass.) claimed third with a time of 56.97. This led right into the 400m dash, and freshman Cyprian Ojatabu (Ojoto, Nigeria) was the lone River Hawk, finishing seventh with a time of 52.49.

Next up was the 800m run, and junior Frederick Coleman (Methuen, Mass.) led the way for the team with a 14^th-place performance and time of 1:58.41, just before senior Basit Iddriss (Milford, Mass.) claimed 16^th place with a time of 1:58.82. Graduate student Tanner Jellison (Wakefield, Mass.) finished in 19^th with a 1:59.15 mark, while freshman Dylan Brenn rounded out the River Hawk runners in 26^th with a 2:00.98 mark.

15 River Hawks finished the mile run, with eight finishing in the top 40 out of 81 finishers. Junior Sean Kennedy-Wonneberger (East Haddam, Conn.) led the way and zoomed to a third-place performance and 4:04.96 mark. Freshman Isaac Henderson was next in 20^th with a 4:13.59 mark, before seniors Joseph Young (Dorchester, Mass.) and Jan Wouter Van Den Akker (Groningen, Netherlands) took 25^th and 27^th place, respectively, with times of 4:15.76 and 4:15.92. The next four that broke the top 40 were senior Graham Stedfast (Rowley, Mass.) (34^th, 4:19.12), junior Hatim Boukhtam (Abington, Mass.) (35^th, 4:19.29), graduate student Hunter Marion (Templeton, Mass.) (37^th, 4:19.71) and senior Andrew Benassi (Reading, Mass.) (39^th, 4:19.79).

The 3,000m steeplechase was next, with junior Joshua Rivers (Manchester, Mass.) finishing 10^th with a time of 9:52.22 and sophomore Nicolas Uzzo (East Bridgewater, Mass) claiming 12^th with a personal-best 10:14.84 mark.

The 5,000m closed out the running events for the team at the Friar Invitational, and freshman Dante Castellano (Nashua, N.H.) led the way in 38^th with a time of 15:03.72 in his first career outdoor 5,000m. Senior Timothy Brigham followed him in 44^th place with a time of 15:21.24, just before graduate student Paul Neilan claimed 45^th with a 15:21.86 mark.

The high jump was the only field event of the night, and it was senior Luke Stelmach (Sterling, Mass.) that won the event, earning a personal-best 2.00m mark.
 
Over at the Silfen Invitational, Tierney found his success in his first career 10,000m race, finishing third overall with a time of 31:30.52.

"Keegan had a great 10k debut in Connecticut," commented Gardner.