LOWELL, Mass. – The UMass Lowell men's track and field team hosted the annual George Davis Invitational on Saturday, while a group of athletes closed out the weekend at the Virginia Challenge.

"I was really happy, first off, that we had good weather," said Associate Head Coach Ally Waruch. "It was one of the first meets where it hasn't been super windy, or cold, or rainy. And we saw a lot of event wins today, and some PRs, so anytime we can come out and compete and have a lot of kids winning events, that is really where we want to be at this time of year, being competitive with the field that we are in, so that was a really exciting day."

In Lowell, the 2 mile run kicked off the meet in a great way, as freshman Chris Guerin (Shrewsbury, Mass.) earned the victory in his first collegiate 2 mile race with a 9:31.74 mark. Seniors Nathanael Fondakowski (Pelham, Mass.) and Daniel Burns (Billerica, Mass.) finished back-to-back in seventh and eighth place, earning times of 9:47.40 and 9:50.77, respectively.

In the 3,000m steeplechase, freshman JJ Rooney (Danvers, Mass.) impressed in his first ever steeplechase, claiming second place out of nine runners with a 9:50.73 mark. Junior Seyha Rath (Lowell, Mass.) was the other runner for the River Hawks in the race, finishing in sixth with a personal-best time of 10:03.92.

Six runners finished within the top 23 out of 43 in the 1,500m run, as sophomore Jack Courtney led the way with a personal-best time of 4:01.36 for seventh place. Just behind him in eighth was freshman Will Conklin (Danvers, Mass.), who earned a 4:01.92 mark, before sophomore Tyler Rothrock (Allentown, Pa.) joined them in the top 10 with a career-best 4:03.72 mark. Next to finish was senior Ethan Mashtare (St. Albans, Vt.) in 17th place with a 4:06.17 mark, while graduate student Timothy Brigham (Holden, Mass.) finished in 21st with a personal-best 4:09.11 mark and senior Hale Boyden (Barnet, Vt.) claimed 23rd with a time of 4:09.36.

Sophomore Dmitrius Shearrion (Taunton, Mass.) shined in the 100m dash, winning the event with a personal-best time of 10.78. Senior Brett Earle (Baldwinville, Mass.) was the other River hawk to compete, finishing in 10th place with a personal-best time of 11.08.

The 400m runners ran well, as junior Anthony Massari (Dumont, N.J.) zoomed to a personal outdoor-record 48.96 mark for second place out of 19. Sophomore Cyprian Ojatabu (Ojoto, Nigeria) finished in eighth with a 50.72 mark, before freshman Raymond Dafe (Lowell, Mass.) finished just behind him in ninth with a personal-best time of 51.34. Not far behind were juniors Dennis Satchek (Boston, Mass.) and Pedro Mayol (Lincoln, R.I.) in 11th and 12th place, respectively, with times of 51.55 and 52.00.

Next was the 800m run, where the River Hawks dominated the leaderboard and claimed the top five spots out of 29 runners. From first to fifth was graduate student Nate DeAngelo (Bristol, Conn.) (PR, 1:53.58), freshman William Simard (Francestown, N.H.) (PR, 1:54.09), sophomore Jamie Lano (Strafford, N.H.) (1:54.76), sophomore Tyler Young (Marion, Mass.) (1:54.78) and freshman Joshua Toth (Milton, Mass.) (1:55.53). Sophomore Sean Kerin (Walpole, Mass.) also finished well, claiming eighth place with a 1:56.47 mark.

Four River Hawks performed well in the 200m dash, and Massari once again led the way in fourth out of 32 total runners with a time of 22.01. Shearrion claimed seventh with a 22.31 mark, before Ojatabu hit a personal record with his 22.38 mark for eighth place. Earle rounded out the UMass Lowell runners in 11th place with a time of 22.57.

The lone River Hawk in the 5,000m, graduate student Landen Vaillancourt (New Ipswich, N.H.), won the event with his 14:42.59 mark, before the 4x400m relay closed out the track events. The team of Satchek, Kerin, freshman Abdul Jalloh (Lowell, Mass.) and Mayol fought hard for the victory with a 3:24.50 mark.

In the field events, the men's discus invitational was first, and freshman Reznor Rokicki (Loveland, Ohio) finished first in a field of 14 throwers with a 48.81m toss. Graduate student Ian Camerato (Mount Laurel, N.J.) was next in third place, reaching 47.79m, before freshman Kenny Kalvinek (Sutton, Mass.) finished fifth with his 45.89m throw. Freshman Kevin Vigneault (Jamesville, N.Y.) claimed ninth place with a 41.71m mark, while senior Mukanya Kazadi (Woburn, Mass.) finished in 13th with a toss of 37.33m.

In the javelin, freshman Jacob Tucker (Acton, Mass.) finished in seventh place out of 21 throwers with a personal-best 56.06m mark. Next was the long jump, where freshman Rere Edokpolo (Manchester, N.H.) shined and earned a personal-best mark of 7.00m for second place overall out of 16. Junior Kuzey Kaya (Winchester, Mass.) was next in seventh place with a personal-best 6.66m leap, before freshman John Kivlan claimed ninth with a 6.52m mark. Earle also competed, picking up a personal-best 6.20m jump for 13th place to round out the River Hawks.

The team also found success in the triple jump, as sophomore Jack Shepherd won the event with a 13.83m mark, before Edokpolo hit another personal record with his 12.40m mark for fourth place. In the high jump, sophomore Camren Allain (Carver, Mass.) earned the victory, clearing 1.95m, before Kivlan finished in 10th with a 1.80m mark.
Down in Virginia, the 110m hurdles kicked it off and it was junior Brandon Riley (Weymouth, Mass.) that led a duo of River Hawks in 29th place with a time of 15.12, before senior Tristan O'Riorden claimed 32nd place with a 15.28 mark.

Next was the 400m, where sophomore Michael Fisher (Wallingford, Conn.) impressed with a 16th-place finish out of 62 runners and a 48.46 mark. Senior Derek Munroe (Tewksbury, Mass.) claimed 59th place with a time of 51.93.

The 200m duo of sophomore Michael Gyimah (Kumasi, Ghana) and Iyanuoluwapo Omisore (Lagos, Nigeria) ran extremely well, as Gyimah finished in second place out of 42 total runners with a 21.67 mark, before Omisore was just behind him in third place with a time of 21.73.