PRINCETON, N.J. – The UMass Lowell men's track and field team traveled to Princeton on Saturday afternoon for the Sam Howell Invitational, collecting a plethora of great performances.

The 4x100m relay got it started and the team of junior Evan Imasogie (Lowell, Mass.), junior Daniel Kennedy (Tolland, Conn.), sophomore Iyanuoluwapo Omisore (Lagos, Nigeria) and sophomore Michael Gyimah (Kumasi, Ghana) ran well and collected a time of 40.85 to claim third place out of 10 teams and take the top spot in the America East this season.

Five runners then took part in the first round of the 110m hurdles, and despite coming up short of qualifying times for finals, two of the five earned personal-best marks. Leading the pack was senior Tristan O'Riorden, who finished in 11^th out of 22 with a personal-best time of 15.02, followed by junior Brandon Riley (Weymouth, Mass.) in 12^th with a personal-best 15.09 mark, putting them in fourth and fifth, respectively, in the America East this season. Junior Nidlaire Olivier (Lowell, Mass.) claimed 15^th with a 15.34 mark, before senior Derek Munroe (Tewksbury, Mass.) and graduate student Luke Stelmach (Sterling, Mass.) finished in 20^th and 22^nd with times of 16.27 and 17.17.

Next was the 400m, where junior Anthony Massari (Dumont, N.J.) led a group of five River Hawks with a 17^th-place finish out of 45 and a time of 49.12. Senior Basit Iddriss (Milford, Mass.) was behind him in 25^th (49.62) and sophomore Cyprian Ojatabu (Ojoto, Nigeria) was not far behind in 27^th with a 50.09 mark. Rounding out the UMass Lowell runners were senior Brett Earle (Baldwinville, Mass.) (50.71) and freshman Raymond Dafe (Lowell, Mass.) (50.94) in 37^th and 40^th place, respectively.

Two sprinters broke personal records in the 100m dash. Gyimah impressed in fourth place out of 33 with a personal-best time of 10.63, while Omisore was behind him in seventh with a 10.69 mark. Imasogie was next in 13^th with a 10.78 mark. Sophomore Dmitrius Shearrion (Taunton, Mass.) was the second runner to earn a personal-best mark, finishing in 10.89 seconds for 20^th place, before Olivier crossed in 30^th with an 11.26 mark.

This led to the 800m, where sophomore Tyler Young (Marion, Mass.) hit a personal-best time of 1:54.78 for 10^th place out of 43 runners as the first River Hawk to finish. Sophomore Tyler Rothrock (Allentown, Pa.) was next in 15^th with a personal-best time of 1:55.06.

Senior Alejandro Lynch (Somerville, Mass.) shined in the 400m hurdles, earning a fifth place finish out of 23 competitors with a personal-best time of 52.51 to move him to second in the conference this season. O'Riorden was not far behind with the fourth-best America East mark this season at 54.02 in 10^th place.

Sophomore Michael Fisher (Wallingford, Conn.) continued his successful season with a personal-best time in the 200m dash, finishing in 21.55 seconds for fourth place overall in a field of 30 runners and moving up to fifth in the conference. Ojatabu was next in 16^th with a personal-best time of 22.28.

Moving on to the men's elite 800m, graduate student Andrew Benassi (Reading, Mass.) was the only River Hawk to compete, claiming 15^th place with a 1:54.53 mark.
Next was the 3,000m steeplechase, and junior David McKinnon (Bloomsbury, N.J.) secured 14^th place with a 9:37.42 mark, before junior Nicolas Uzzo (East Bridgewater, Mass.) earned a personal best mark of 9:50.72 for 18^th.

In the 1,500m, graduate student Nate DeAngelo (Bristol, Conn.) finished 23^rd of 58 runners with his time of 3:56.46, just before sophomore Jamie Lano (Strafford, N.H.) claimed 27^th with a personal-best time of 3:57.48. Freshman Joshua Toth (Milton, Mass.) also set a new personal-best time of 4:00.33 for 40^th place, while graduate student Graham Stedfast (Rowley, Mass.) finished 45^th with a 4:01.34 mark.

The unseeded and seeded 5,000m races rounded out the track events, and sophomore Jack Courtney led the unseeded race for the River Hawks in 13^th out of 35 runners with a time of 14:48.73. Freshman Christopher Guerin (Shrewsbury, Mass.) was next with a personal-best time of 15:10.35 for 24^th place, before freshman JJ Rooney (Danvers, Mass.) claimed 22^nd with a personal-best time of 15:22.65. In the seeded race, sophomore Dante Castellano (Nashua, N.H.) led in 15^th with a 14:47.37 mark, leading graduate student Landen Vaillancourt (New Ipswich, N.H.) and junior Nicholas Marcotte (Hudson, N.H.), who finished 19^th and 22^nd with times of 15:00.71 and 15:03.12.

In the field events, Munroe kicked it off with a fifth-place performance in the javelin, tossing 57.31m for a new personal-best and the fourth spot in the conference. Freshman Kevin Vigneault (Jamesville, N.Y.) competed next in the hammer throw, finishing 14^th with a 43.90 mark. In the high jump, sophomore Camren Allain (Carver, Mass.) claimed fifth out of 19 jumpers with a tie for his personal record of 2.00m, which is fourth in the America East.

Three River Hawks threw in the discus event, and freshman Reznor Rokicki (Loveland, Ohio) led in fourth place out of 20 with a personal-best 50.86m toss. Graduate student Ian Camerato (Mount Laurel, N.J.) was next in sixth, reaching 48.43m, before freshman Kenny Kalvinek (Sutton, Mass.) finished 10^th with a 45.40m mark. Jack Shepherd then represented the River Hawks in the triple jump, claiming seventh with a 13.71m jump.

The shot put finished off the day for the squad, and Kalvinek led the way in 11^th with a 14.79m toss. Vigneault (14.69m) and Rokicki (14.45m) claimed 14^th and 15^th, respectively, before Camerato rounded it out in 17^th place (14.13m).

"Alejandro Lynch had a great day today, along with the 4x100m and 100m guys," said Head Coach Gary Gardner. "They really came to compete today."