BOSTON, Mass. – A group of runners from the UMass Lowell men's indoor track and field team hit the road Friday morning to compete in the David Hemery Valentine Invitational at Boston University, with most of them breaking personal records in their respective events.  

The 800m run kicked off the day for the River Hawks, and freshman Jacob Szalewicz (Marblehead, Mass.) shined, finishing in 10^th place out of 164 total finishers with a personal-best time of 1:50.95. Junior Dennis Satchek (Boston, Mass.) also competed, claiming 85^th place with a 1:55.39 mark.

Senior Andrew Benassi (Reading, Mass.) followed that up with an impressive performance in the 1,000m run, crossing the finish line in ninth place out of 69 with a personal-best time of 2:25.60. Sophomore Jamie Lano (Strafford, N.H.) was next in 26^th place, breaking a personal-best of his own with a 2:27.88 mark. Sophomore Tyler Young (Marion, Mass.) was not far behind, taking 31^st place with a personal-best time of 2:28.51. Two more personal records were broken by sophomore Tyler Rothrock (Allentown, Pa.) and freshman Jackson Beauparlant, as Rothrock finished with a 2:29.60 mark for 41^st place and Beauparlant claimed 52^nd with a 2:31.52 mark.

Next was the open one mile run, where eight River Hawks raced. Sophomore Isaac Henderson led the squad in 108^th place out of 283 finishers with a personal-best time of 4:07.83. Three River Hawks finished consecutively in 119^th, 120^th and 121^st, with graduate student Jan Wouter Van Den Akker (Groningen, Netherlands) in 119^th with a personal-best 4:08.80 mark, before sophomore Devin Moreau (Tyngsboro, Mass.) claimed 120^th with a personal-best time of 4:08.91. Freshman Will Simard (Francestown, N.H.) crossed in 121^st place with a personal-best time of 4:08.97. Next was senior Ethan Mashtare (St. Albans, Vt.) in 168^th with a 4:12.11 mark, graduate student Will Benoit (Fairhaven, Mass.) in 202^nd with a 4:14.35 mark, graduate student Nate DeAngelo (Bristol, Conn.) in 212^th with a 4:15.36 mark, and junior Nicholas Marcotte (Hudson, N.H.) in 225^th with a 4:16.34 mark to round out the River Hawks runners.

"It was a great day overall," said Head Coach Gary Gardner. "Jacob had an incredible run for a freshman in the 800m and he ran completely confident and it was really fun to watch. All of the 1,000m guys had their fastest time of the season or ever and all of the mile guys ran really good races if not personal bests, which bodes well for next week."

The River Hawk women will now compete tomorrow, Saturday, February 14 in day two of the meet, while the men will prepare for the America East Championships next weekend on Friday and Saturday, February 20 and 21 at Boston University.