CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – A group of UMass Lowell men's indoor track and field athletes hit the road and traveled to the Harvard Invitational on Friday afternoon.
"Today, we saw good performances from some of the guys we count on to perform during championship season," said Associate Head Coach Ally Waruch. "It is reassuring to see them coming along and putting things together."
Sophomore
Camren Allain (Carver, Mass.) got it started with an impressive second-place performance out of 21 in the open high jump, clearing 1.98m to tie his personal best. Continuing with the field events, freshman
Rere Edokpolo (Manchester, N.H.) was the first River Hawk on the leaderboard in the open long jump in sixth out of 31 with a personal-best 6.48m mark. Freshman John Kivlan was next in 14
th with a jump of 6.18m, before junior
Kuzey Kaya (Winchester, Mass.) concluded the event in 19
th with a 6.01m mark.
In the championship triple jump, sophomore
Jack Shepherd finished ninth with a 13.64m leap, before senior
Derek Munroe (Tewksbury, Mass.) finished tied for eighth in the championship pole vault, clearing 4.45m to round out the field events.
The 3,000m run got the running events started, and it was graduate student
Timothy Brigham (Holden, Mass.) that led the way in 15
th place out of 45 with an 8:55.44 mark, before senior
Daniel Burns (Billerica, Mass.) came in at 9:12.75 for 31
st and junior
Samuel Denis (Randolph, Mass.) finished in 35
th with a time of 9:15.92. In the 1,000m run, sophomores
Declan Mulligan (Chestnut Hill, Mass.) and
Dylan Brenn finished back-to-back in sixth and seventh place, respectively, with times of 2:42.33 and 2:42.82.
Next was the 400m, where seven River Hawks competed. Senior
Alejandro Lynch (Somerville, Mass.) ran well, finishing in second place out of 54 with a personal-best time of 48.71, while junior
Anthony Massari (Dumont, N.J.) finished in seventh with a time of 49.95. Freshman
Raymond Dafe (Lowell, Mass.) was next in 16
th place with a personal-best 50.57 mark, before senior
Bradley Diaz claimed 19
th with a time of 50.76. Sophomore
Cyprian Ojatabu (Ojoto, Nigeria) finished in 26
th with a 51.49 mark, as freshman Daethmy Dorival (35
th, 52.45) and senior
Brett Earle (Baldwinville, Mass.) (37
th, 52.58) rounded out the River Hawks.
Next was the 60m hurdles prelim, where junior
Brandon Riley (Weymouth, Mass.) was the lone River Hawk to qualify for finals with his seventh-place performance and 8.29 mark. Junior
Nidlaire Olivier (Lowell, Mass.) also competed, finishing 15
th with an 8.49 mark, before senior
Tristan O'Riorden (22
nd, 8.68) and Munroe (31
st, 8.88). In the finals, Riley took home seventh place honors with a personal-best 8.25 mark.
Sophomore
Evan Imasogie (Lowell, Mass.) was the only UMass Lowell runner to qualify for the 60m dash finals, finishing the prelim in fourth place with a personal-best time of 6.84. Riley also competed with a 22
nd-place finish and 6.97 mark, before junior
Daniel Kennedy (Tolland, Conn.) claimed 28
th with a 7.00 mark. In the finals, Imasogie finished seventh with a 6.92 mark.
The 200m dash concluded the day, and sophomore
Michael Fisher (Wallingford, Conn.) impressed with a second place finish out of 80 runners and a personal-best time of 22.03. Sophomore
Michael Gyimah (Kumasi, Ghana) finished in eighth place with a 22.30 mark.
"Alejandro (Lynch), Evan (Imasogie) and (Michael) Fisher had great looking PRs," said Waruch. "They never shy away from being aggressive in races, so they are fun to watch as we get to the second half of the season. Brandon (Riley) is continuing to improve his hurdle mechanics. I hope he can continue to chip away at his times as he sorts things out."
Next, the men will take on the Terrier Classic at BU tomorrow, Saturday, January 31.