LOWELL, Mass. – The UMass Lowell women's track and field team hosted the George Davis Invitational today in Lowell, while also competing down at the Virginia Challenge in Charlottesville, Va.

"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."

The 3,000m kicked off the track events and it was sophomore Selena Wood (Abington, Mass.) that led the way in second out of 27 with a personal-best time of 10:22.94, before graduate student Delaney Swanson (Swanzey, N.H.) claimed fourth with a 10:27.83 mark. Freshman Grace Brackett (Wakefield, Mass.) was next in 11^th place, finishing with a personal-best 11:15.08 mark, while graduate student Kaitlyn Stevens (Oxford, Mass.) claimed 13^th with a time of 11:26.01.

Next was the 4x100m relay, where the team of junior Bridget Geary (Lowell, Mass.), senior Danielle Thompson (Groton, Mass.), sophomore Meredith Feener (Walpole, Mass.) and senior Maggie McInerney (Acton, Mass.) finished in seventh place with a time of 49.29.

In the 3,000m steeplechase, freshman Krista Bettez (Gardner, Mass.) picked up the victory by more than 21 seconds, finishing with a time of 11:48.71 as the lone River Hawk in the race. The 100m hurdles also saw just one River Hawk finisher with freshman Nyrah Joseph (Billerica, Mass.), who finished second out of 24 with a personal-best 14.70 mark.

Five runners took part in the 1,500m run and senior Raihana Yameogo led the way in second place out of 34 total runners with a personal-best time of 4:42.44. Sophomore Haley Evans (Glastonbury, Conn.) was next in 14^th place, earning a personal-best time of 5:04.78. Freshman Addyson Hunt (Wilmington, Mass.) claimed 16^th with a 5:09.28 mark, before sophomore Alyssa Fiorino (Billerica, Mass.) finished in 19^th with a time of 5:14.28 in her first collegiate 1,500m race. Junior Lena Takahashi (Holden, Mass.) rounded out the River Hawks in 26^th place with a 5:25.83 mark.

Feener led the River Hawks in the 100m dash, finishing in 13.10 for 19^th place out of 31. Junior Shayla Quill (Andover, Mass.) claimed 29^th with a 13.80 mark. Next was the 400m dash, where Geary claimed sixth with a personal-best time of 59.42. Sophomore Brenna Corcoran (Haverhill, Mass.) finished in 11^th place with a 1:00.49 mark, just before junior Julie Condon crossed in 12^th place with a 1:00.81 mark. Junior Soria Roberts (Warwick, N.Y.) hit a personal-best time of 1:01.01 for 14^th place.

All three UMass Lowell runners in the 800m run finished within the top half, as senior Nubia Pereira (Woburn, Mass.) finished in third place out of 26 runners with a 2:19.72 mark. Sophomore Salma Boukhtam (Quincy, Mass.) was not far behind in sixth place with a 2:21.76 mark, before sophomore Isabel McIntyre (Dover, N.H.) finished 10^th with a personal-best time of 2:23.76.

The squad also found success in the 400m hurdles, as McInerney finished in second out of 13 with a 1:07.43 mark, just before freshman Kathryn Perrone (Washington, Mass.) finished third with a time of 1:07.48.

In a large field of 46 in the 200m dash, the River Hawks finished consecutively in 13^th, 14^th and 15^th place. Roberts led the way with a personal-best time of 26.11, while Thompson claimed 14^th with a 26.30 mark and Feener finished in 15^th with a time of 26.67.

Senior Miana Caraballo (Methuen, Mass.) was the first River Hawk to cross the finish line in the 5,000m run, claiming second place out of 18 with a 17:37.88 mark. Fellow senior Mia Jones (Blacksburg, Va.) also competed, finishing in ninth place with a time of 18:48.55.

This led to the 4x400m relay to close out the track events and the team of Perrone, junior Katharine Cottone (Little Falls, N.J.), Corcoran and junior Emily Burdick (Billerica, Mass.) finished second out of five teams with a time of 4:07.36.

In the field events, junior Nhyira Nkansah (Chelmsford, Mass.) finished fourth out of 10 competitors in the discus open with a 29.20m toss. In the discus invitational, freshman Zoe Clarke (Dracut, Mass.) impressed with a personal-best 39.55m toss for third place out of 12. Freshman Alessandra Forgione (Peabody, Mass.) claimed 10^th with a 32.54m mark. Forgione went on to find success in the javelin, finishing second with a 44.63m mark.

Next was the pole vault, where junior Úna Brice (Cork, Ireland) finished third overall out of nine vaulters with a 3.30m mark. Sophomore Jaden Kasule (Tewksbury, Mass.) finished tied for sixth place with a 3.15m mark.

Two River Hawks competed in the long jump, and senior Paige Murphy (Billerica, Mass.) led the way in 12^th place out of 41 with a 5.11m mark, before junior Nethica Auguste (Bridgewater, Mass.) finished in 19^th place with a 4.95m leap. In the triple jump, Joseph led in fourth with an 11.13m mark, before Auguste hit 10.98m for an outdoor personal-best mark, earning seventh place. Lastly, in the high jump, sophomore Chloe Champagne (Brockton, Mass.) finished in seventh out of 19 jumpers, clearing 1.50m. Joseph also competed, finishing tied for eighth with a 1.45m mark.

Down in Virginia, junior Jayani Santos was the lone woman to compete, taking part in the 200m invite. Against tough competition, she ran well and finished in 14^th place out of 33 runners with a personal-best time of 23.99, ranking her second in the conference so far this season.