BOSTON, Mass. – The UMass Lowell men's indoor track and field team continued its January schedule Saturday, competing in the Bruce Lehane Scarlet and White Invite at Boston University in Boston, Mass.
"The third meet coming off break is when the team tends to turn the corner and we start to see some really outstanding performances, and that certainly happened today," said Head Coach Gary Gardner. "We can see it from all the different event groups which makes us excited for the next few weeks."
The 5,000m run kicked off the day for the squad, and it was sophomore Dante Castellano (Nashua, N.H.) that was the first River Hawk to finish, claiming fourth place out of 26 finishers with a personal-best time of 14:32.82. Junior Keegan Tierney (East Greenwich, R.I.) was next in 13th place with a personal-best 14:47.09 mark, before senior Nathanael Fondakowski (Pelham, N.H.) claimed 25th with a 15:29.09 mark.
In the 60m hurdles prelims, junior Brandon Riley (Weymouth, Mass.) was the lone River Hawk to qualify for the finals, finishing in eighth place with a time of 8.45. Senior Tristan O'Riorden was next in 11th with a time of 8.71, before junior Nidlaire Olivier (Lowell, Mass.) and senior Derek Munroe (Tewksbury, Mass.) finished consecutively in 14th and 15th place, respectively, with times of 8.79 and 8.86. John Kivlan also competed, finishing in 18th with a time of 9.78. Junior Evan Imasogie (Lowell, Mass.) qualified for the 60m dash finals with a sixth-place performance in the prelims and a 6.93 mark. Sophomore Michael Gyimah (Kumasi, Ghana) finished in 20th with a 7.14 mark,before Olivier claimed 40th with a time of 7.40. In the finals, Imasogie finished in eighth place with a 7.03 mark.
Seven River Hawks ran in the mile, with senior Andrew Benassi (Reading, Mass.) leading the way in 17th with a personal-best 4:08.03 mark, just before sophomore Devin Moreau (Tyngsboro, Mass.) claimed 18th with a personal-best 4:08.36 mark. Graduate student Jan Wouter Van Den Akker (Groningen, Netherlands) was not far behind them in 20th place with a personal-best time of 4:08.88. Graduate student Will Benoit (Fairhaven, Mass.) finished in 25th with a personal-best time of 4:09.82, with freshman Will Simard (Francestown, N.H.) just behind him in 28th place with a personal-best time of 4:13.36. Next were freshman Will Conklin (Danvers, Mass.) and sophomore Jack Courtney, who finished in 36th and 46th place, respectively with times of 4:15.47 and 4:20.69.
Sophomore Michael Fisher (Wallingford, Conn.) raced well in the 400m dash, finishing second out of 30 with a 48.27 mark. Junior Anthony Massari (Dumont, N.J.) and O'Riorden finished consecutively in 12th and 13th place with times of 49.31 and 49.68. Sophomore Cyprian Ojatabu (Ojoto, Nigeria) rounded out the squad in 20th with a time of 50.33. Senior Alejandro Lynch (Somerville, Mass.) led the way in the 500m run, claiming fourth place out of 20 with a personal-best time of 1:04.60. Senior Bradley Diaz and freshman Raymond Dafe (Lowell, Mass.) finished back-to-back in 11th and 12th place with times of 1:05.90 and 1:06.51, respectively. Dafe earned a personal-best with his mark. Sophomore Dylan Brenn rounded out the River Hawks in 19th place with a 1:08.76 mark.
In the 800m run, senior Basit Iddriss (Milford, Conn.) ran hard, earning eighth place after clocking in at a personal best time of 1:51.60. Freshman Jacob Szalewicz (Marblehead, Mass.) was next, finishing at a time of 1:54.37 for 17th place with sophomore Tyler Young (Marion, Mass.) close behind in 25th place at a personal-best 1:55.58. Also competing in the event were freshmen Abdul Jalloh (Lowell, Mass.) and Jackson Beauparlant, respectively. The River Hawks had five runners compete in the 1,000m run, as sophomore Jamie Lano (Strafford, N.H.) and junior Dennis Satchek (Boston, Mass.) finished back-to-back with Lano in eighth at a personal-best 2:28.64 and Satchek with a personal-best at 2:28.84 for ninth place. Junior Pedro Mayol (Lincoln, R.I.) followed, placing 19th at a personal-best of 2:30.93, with sophomore Tyler Rothrock (Allentown, Penn.) close in 21st, posting a personal best of 2:31.41, while freshman Joshua Toth (Milton, Mass.) finished in 26th with a personal best time at 2:33.17 to round out the UMass Lowell runners.
Running hard in the 200m dash, junior Daniel Kennedy (Tolland, Conn.) recorded a time of 22.28 for 18th place, as junior Evan Imasogie (Lowell, Mass.) was close in 24th place at 22.53. Freshman Dhaethmy Dorival also ran in the event, finishing in 34th at 23.03. The 3,000m run came next, with junior Nicholas Marcotte (Hudson, N.H.) leading the way in 13th with a personal best time of 8:16.94, just before sophomore Isaac Henderson crossed at 8:25.86 for 21st place. Senior Ethan Mashtare (St. Albans, Vt.) was not far behind in 27th, recording a personal-best of 8:28.97, and junior Nicolas Uzzo (East Bridgewater, Mass.) (37th, Personal Best 8:40.55) and freshman JJ Rooney (Danvers, Mass.) (38th, 8:46.76) respectively ran in the event as well.
A group of runners competed in the 1,500m event, Benassi and Moreau finished one after another, with Benassi earning 19th at a time of 3:51.55 and Moreau claiming 20th at a personal-best 3:51.94. Benoit and Van Den Akker stayed attached, as Benoit took 24th place with a time of 3:52.88 and Van Den Akker behind in 25th clocking in at 3:53.10. Conklin finished in 35th at 3:58.59 and Simard claimed 38th place at 3:58.95, just before Courtney rounded out the River Hawks, finishing in 48th at 4:03.37. A 4x400m relay wrapped up the invitational, as UMass Lowell competed with a small team, with Massari, Fisher, O'Riorden, and Ojatabu a part of the event, earning fourth place overall after recording a time of 3:16.63.
In the field events, Munroe pole vaulted well, earning third place out of 13 finishers with a 4.65m mark. Riley also competed, finishing in 13th place with a 3.90m mark. Freshman Rere Edokpolo (Manchester, N.H.) and John Kivlan competed in the high jump, finishing in 11th and 12th place, respectively, with marks of 1.83m and 1.78m. In the shot put, freshmen Kevin Vigneault (Jamesville, N.Y.) and freshman Reznor Rokicki (Loveland, Ohio) led the team in sixth and seventh place, respectively, tossing 15.59m and 15.38m with Rokicki's being a personal-best. Graduate student Ian Camerato (Mount Laurel, N.J.) claimed 14th place with a 14.25m toss. Riley competed in the long jump as well for UMass Lowell, finishing in third out of 16 with a 6.92m leap, while junior Kuzey Kaya (Winchester, Mass.) finished in 15th with an indoor personal-best mark of 6.17m.
Rokicki gave his all in the weight throw event, tossing a mark of 15.74m for 11th place, with Vigneault finishing in 16th at a 14.42m mark and freshman Kenny Kalvinek (Sutton, Mass.) behind in 17th with a mark of 12.64m. Competing for the River Hawks in the last field event of the day, Sophomore Jack Shepherd (11th, 13.40m), Edokpolo (12th, 12.25m) and Kaya (13th, Personal Best 11.65m) all finished consecutively in the triple jump event.
The indoor team closes the month of January traveling back to Boston University to compete at the John Thomas Terrier Classic on January 30-31 in Boston, Mass.
