DURHAM, N.H. – The UMass Lowell women's track and field team trekked to the University of New Hampshire Wednesday afternoon to take on the Wildcats at Paul Sweet Oval in Durham, N.H. The team fell short by a score of 101-35.

"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, the 55m hurdles prelim kicked it off, and junior Shayla Quill (Andover, Mass.) was the lone River Hawk, competing against one Wildcat, finishing second with a 9.68 mark. In the finals, she improved to a 9.52 mark, falling short of the victory, but earning three points for the team. In the 55m dash prelim, three River Hawks finished consecutively in third to fifth place in sophomore Meredith Feener (Walpole, Mass.) (3^rd, 7.77), junior Bridget Geary (Lowell, Mass.) (4^th, PR: 7.78) and Quill (5^th, PR:8.16.).
In the finals, Geary and Feener earned two and one point, respectively for the team, finishing in third and fourth place with times of 7.84 and 7.85.

Sophomore Selena Wood (Abington, Mass.) was the lone River Hawk in the one mile run, claiming fifth place for two points with a time of 5:38.80. Junior Soria Roberts (Warwick, N.Y.) represented UMass Lowell in the 400m run, finishing in second with a 1:04.55 mark for three points. In the 500m run, freshman Kathryn Perrone (Washington, Mass.) finished in fifth as the only River Hawk, earning two points for the team with her 1:27.60 mark.

In the field events, junior Úna Brice (Cork, Ireland) finished in second for three points, clearing 3.15m, before sophomore Jaden Kasule (Tewksbury, Mass.) took third with a 3.00m mark. Avery Pitts continued her great season in the high jump, winning the event for five points with a 1.60m mark. Freshman Nyrah Joseph (Billerica, Mass.) was next in fourth place, earning one point with her 1.55m mark.  

Graduate student Fleur Balogh de Galantha (Grafton, Mass.) led the way in the long jump, earning fifth place with a 5.14m mark for two points. Junior Nethinca Auguste (Bridgewater, Mass.) was next in sixth place with a 4.74m mark, earning one point for the team. Senior Paige Murphy (Billerica, Mass.) and sophomore Anya Neira (Methuen, Mass.) also competed, earning marks of 4.70m and 4.42m, respectively for seventh and eighth place.

Balogh de Galantha went on to win the shot put, earning five points for the squad with a personal-best 11.57m toss. Joseph was next in fourth place, reaching 10.56m for one points, while Murphy hit 9.27m for fifth place. Finally, freshman Zoe Clarke (Dracut, Mass.) represented the team in the weight throw, finishing fifth with an 11.28m mark to round out the day.

"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.