DURHAM, N.H. – The UMass Lowell men's track and field team sent a large group to New Hampshire to compete in day two of the Wildcat Invitational on Saturday at Paul Sweet Oval. 

"Today, we saw a lot of progress for the team as a whole," said Associate Head Coach Ally Waruch. "I feel confident that there could be a lot of great performances when it matters most in a couple weeks. All the event groups seem to be trending up together, which hopefully leads to team success when it counts. It's time to rest and fine tune some little things."

The 3,000m steeplchase kicked off the track events for the River Hawks, and it was freshman JJ Rooney (Danvers, Mass.) and junior Nicolas Uzzo (East Bridgewater, Mass.) that led the way in first and second place, respectively, in the field of four. Rooney got the win and smashed his personal record with a time of 9:46.88, before Uzzo crossed the finish line in 10:02.99 for second.

Next was the 1,500m run, where five runners competed and junior David McKinnon (Bloomsbury, N.J.) was the first River Hawk to finish, claiming sevneth out of 14 with a time of 4:05.37. The remaining four runners finished consecutively from ninth to 12th place. Freshman Christopher Guerin (Shrewsbury, Mass.) (4:08.06) earned ninth in his first career 1,500m race, before junior Dean Allen (Chelmsford, Mass.) hit a personal-best time of 4:08.45 to finish 10th. Seniors Hale Boyden (Barnet, Vt.) (4:12.82) and Daniel Burns (Billerica, Mass.) (4:16.05) rounded out the UMass Lowell runners in 13th and 14th place, with Burns hitting a personal record. 

Senior Brett Earle (Baldwinville, Mass.) led the way in the 400m dash, finishing third out of seven runners with a time of 50.41. Freshman Raymond Dafe (Lowell, Mass.) was just behind him in fourth with a personal-best time of 51.30, before sophomore Dylan Brenn claimed seventh with a 52.93 mark. 

The sprinters continued to collect solid performances, as junior Daniel Kennedy (Tolland, Conn.) won the 100m dash with a 10.85 mark. Junior Evan Imasogie (Lowell, Mass.) and sophomore Dmitrius Shearrion (Taunton, Mass.) were next in third and fourth place, respectively, with times of 11.00 and 11.13. Sophomore Cyprian Ojatabu (Ojoto, Nigeria) also competed, finishing in eighth place with a 11.26 mark in his first career 100m dash. 

Next was the 110m hurdles, where senior Derek Munroe (Tewksbury, Mass.) represented the River Hawks and claimed second place out of five runners with a 16.12 mark. Four runners followed that up in the 800m run, with freshman Abdul Jalloh (Lowell, Mass.) leading the pack in fifth out of 15 with a 1:56.98 mark. Next was freshman Jackson Beauparlant in eighth with a 1:58.60 mark, before junior Pedro Mayol (Lincoln, R.I.) claimed ninth right behind him with a 2:00.02 mark. Junior Declan Mulligan (Chestnut Hill, Mass.) also competed, finishing in 12th place with a time of 2:04.40.

The 400m hurdles duo of senior Alejandro Lynch (Somerville, Mass.) and senior Tristan O'Riorden shined, finishing in the top two spots out of seven total runners. Lynch won the event with a 52.77 mark, while O'Riorden was not far behind in second with a time of 53.68. 

Following the hurdles success, the guys took the top five spots in the 200m dash. First was Kennedy (21.50), followed by sophomore Michael Fisher (Wallingford, Conn.) (21.68), Shearrion (PR, 21.83), Ojatabu (PR, 21.99) and junior Anthony Massari (Dumont, N.J.) (PR, 22.00) in that order. Juniors Brandon Riley (Weymouth, Mass.) and Imasogie also competed, claiming seventh and eighth, respectively, with personal-best times of 22.15 and 2.27. 

Finally, the 4x400m team of Massari, Lynch, O'Riorden and Fisher won the final track event with a time of 3:16.08.

In the field events, the high jump finished up first, and the River Hawks found success. Freshman John Kivlan earned the victory with a personal-best 1.95m, before four other UMass Lowell jumpers claimed third to sixth place consecutively in the field of eight. Graduate student Luke Stelmach (Sterling, Mass.) picked up third place honors with a 1.90m jump, before sophomore Jack Shepherd cleared 1.85m for fourth place. Munroe and freshman Rere Edokpolo (Manchester, N.H.) claimed the next two spots, each reaching 1.80m marks to round out the River Hawks. 

In the shot put, freshmen Kenneth Kalvinek (Sutton, Mass.) and Kevin Vigneault (Jamesville, N.Y.) were the top River Hawks, finishing in second and third, respectively, reaching 16.11m and 15.67m. Next was freshman Reznor Rokicki (Loveland, Ohio) in fifth with a personal-best 15.42m mark, before senior Mukanya Kazadi (Woburn, Mass.) finished in seventh out of 14 with a 14.58m mark. 

Rokicki threw the furthest in the discus, reaching 49.85m for second place in a field of 18 throwers. Next was Kalvinek in fifth with a 45.00m mark. Riley then set a personal record in 14th place with a 36.80-meter toss. Munroe and Riley competed in the pole vault as well, earning fifth and seventh place, respectively, earning 4.40m and 3.80m marks in a field of 12.  

The long jump was next, as junior Kuzey Kaya (Winchester, Mass.) finished in seventh place to lead the River Hawks out of 15 jumpers with a 6.61m jump. Earle was next and hit a personal record by also reaching 6.61m for eighth place. Kivlan rounded out the long jumpers with a 10th-place finish and 6.59m mark. Shepherd followed that up with a triple jump victory to close out the day, reaching 13.59m for the win. Edokpolo also competed, claiming fifth with a 12.30m mark.