DURHAM, N.H. – The UMass Lowell men's indoor track and field team traveled up to the Paul Sweet Oval in Durham, New Hampshire on Wednesday afternoon to take on the University of New Hampshire. The squad fell short as a team by a score of 83-46.

"It was a good day cleaning up some technical aspects today and getting some of the athletes more confident going into conference," said Associate Head Coach Ally Waruch.

In the running events, junior Nidlaire Olivier (Lowell, Mass.) kicked it off in the 55m hurdles prelim, facing off against just one runner from New Hampshire, and finishing first with a personal-best time of 8.05. In the finals, Olivier came out on top, besting his personal record once again with a time of 7.93 for five team points. In the 55m dash prelim, four River Hawks qualified for finals in sophomore Iyanuoluwapo Omisore (Lagos, Nigeria) (1^st, 6.54), junior Brandon Riley (Weymouth, Mass.) (2^nd, 6.57), Olivier (4^th, 6.81) and Dhaethmy Dorival (6^th, 6.83). In finals, Omisore earned the victory for five points with a 6.62 mark, while Olivier raced to third place with a 6.78 mark for two points.

Next was the one mile run, where four River Hawks finished consecutively in fourth to seventh place. Junior Dean Allen (Chelmsford, Mass.) was fourth with a 4:27.52 mark, before freshman Jonathan Rooney took fifth with a 4:29.78 mark. Junior Nicolas Uzzo (East Bridgewater, Mass.) claimed sixth with a 4:36.06 mark, while senior Daniel Burns (Billerica, Mass.) finished in seventh with a time of 4:38.99. Allen and Rooney collected two and one point, respectively, for the team. In the 800m run, sophomore Dylan Brenn was the lone River Hawk, taking the victory and five points with his 2:02.90 mark.

Next was the 3,000m run, where junior Samuel Denis (Randolph, Mass.) competed as the only River Hawk, finishing third for two points with a 9:20.38 mark. This led to the final running event of the day, which was the 4x400m relay. The team of Alen, Uzzo, Brenn and Rooney finished in third to tally three points for the team and earn a time of 3:46.55.

In the field events, the River Hawks swept the board in the high jump, claiming all four spots. Sophomore Camren Allain (Carver, Mass.) finished first, clearing 1.90m, while Rere Edokpolo (Manchester, N.H.) hit 1.85m for second place and freshman John Kivlan hit 1.80m for third. Senior Derek Munroe (Tewksbury, Mass.) rounded out the River Hawks with a 1.75m mark for fourth place. Allain and Edokpolo gathered five and three points, respectively. Edokpolo earned another three points in the long jump, reaching 6.46m for second place. Junior Kuzey Kaya (Winchester, Mass.) finished in fourth with a 6.16m mark for one point. Sophomore Jack Shepherd was the lone triple jumper for UMass Lowell, finishing second to his Wildcat opponent with a 13.07m mark to pick up 3 points.

In the shot put, freshman Kevin Vigneault (Jamesville, N.Y.) led the River Hawks with a 16.24m toss for third place and two points, while freshman Kenneth Kalvinek (Sutton, Mass.) was right behind him in fourth for one points and graduate student Ian Camerato (Mount Laurel, N.J.) finished fifth with a 15.10m toss. Freshman Reznor Rokicki (Loveland, Ohio) claimed sixth with a 14.68m. Munroe was next in eight with a 14.22m mark, before Riley hit 12.03m for 10^th and Kivlan claimed 12^th with a 9.39m toss. Next was the weight throw, where Rokicki hit a personal-best 16.47m mark for fifth place and two points and Vigneault hit 14.31m for sixth and one point. Camerato (13.55m) and Munroe (12.74m) also competed, claiming eighth and 10^th place.

"The throwers continue to push each other every meet and they are leveling up at the right time," said Waruch.

Next, the River Hawks will compete in the David Hemery Valentine Invitational at Boston University on Friday and Saturday, February 13 and 14.