DURHAM, N.H. – The UMass Lowell men's track and field team bussed up to New Hampshire on Saturday to compete in day one of the 2025 America East Outdoor Track and Field Championship, fighting through rainy conditions and two delays. Because of the rain, the team got through a majority of the events before the remainder were postponed to tomorrow.

"The team did a good job staying focused throughout all the starts and stops today," said Head Coach Gary Gardner. "It was hard to get momentum."

The 10,000m race kicked things off bright and early, with senior Jan Wouter Van Den Akker (Groningen, Netherlands) taking second place with a 29:28.62 mark, earning himself a silver medal and eight points for the team. Graduate student Hunter Marion (Templeton, Mass.) was not far behind, zooming to a personal-best time of 30:06.04 to claim fourth place overall and five points. Junior Nathanael Fondakowski (Pelham, N.H.) finished in 12^th place with a personal-best 31:07.16 mark, while sophomore Keegan Tierney (East Greenwich, R.I.) (31:42.11) and graduate student Henry Farrington (Essex Junction, Vt.) (31:46.76) finished consecutively in 16^th and 17the place, respectively. Sophomore Nicolas Marcotte (Hudson, N.H.) also competed, claiming 20^th place with a 33:18.37 mark.

"The men in the 10k all ran well, which gave us a great start," said Gardner.

The 1,500m prelim was next, and it was junior Sean Kennedy-Wonneberger (East Haddam, Conn.) that finished in first place with a 3:50.43 mark, qualifying himself for tomorrow's final. Graduate student Paul Neilan also qualified, finishing in eighth place with a 3:51.59 mark, before senior Andrew Benassi (Reading, Mass.) (3:51.67) and junior Hatim Boukhtam (Abington, Mass.) both qualified with 10^th and 11^th place finishes, respectively.

"Getting all four to the finals in the 1,500m gives us good potential to score tomorrow as well," added Gardner.

The last event of the day was the 3,000m steeplechase, which followed a rain delay and was led by graduate student Joe Young (Dorchester, Mass.) in fourth place with a 9:08.34 mark. Freshman Patrick Hall was next, claiming eighth place with a time of 9:19.25, before junior Joshua Rivers (Manchester, N.H.) finished in 17th with a time of 9:45.36. 
 
The decathlon also completed half their events on Saturday, with sophomore Brandon Riley (Weymouth, Mass.) leading the way after day one with 3,772 points. In the 100m dash, Riley earned first place with a 10.96 mark, while Munroe finished in fourth with a time of 11.27. Riley then went on to win the long jump with a 6.78m leap, while Munroe claimed eighth with a 6.02m mark. Next was the shot put, where Munroe got the win with a toss of 14.24m, with Riley taking third with a 12.58m mark.  

"The decathlon guys are both in a good position," said Gardner.

Following a rain delay, the decathlon picked up with the 400m dash, which Munroe won by .01 seconds over Riley, as they claimed the top two spots. Munroe lunged for a 49.89 mark, while Riley clocked in at 49.90.