Massachusetts Daily Collegian

A free and responsible press serving the UMass community since 1890

A free and responsible press serving the UMass community since 1890

Massachusetts Daily Collegian

A free and responsible press serving the UMass community since 1890

Massachusetts Daily Collegian

Minutemen travel to Charlotte for A-10 Championships

Maxwell Sparr/Collegian

The Massachusetts track and field teams will travel to Charlotte and attempt to repeat their solid performances at last year’s Atlantic 10 Championships, as well as redeem themselves after a disappointing showing during the indoor season.

The Minutemen finished fourth out of 12 teams at last year’s outdoor championships and are projected to finish third this year. UMass coach Ken O’Brien said that the prediction is giving his team ‘aspirations of a solid placing.’

The UMass distance runners will have to give another sterling performance if the Minutemen are to be successful. They have been outstanding prior to the championship season and have given several dominant performances. In the season opener in Connecticut the Minutemen took six of the top eight spots in the 5,000-meter event and took five of the top six positions in the 10,000-meter run at the UMass Six-Way Meet.

Sophomore Sean Busch has provided a boost for the Minutemen in the field events, notching four top-six finishes in the pole vault.He finished first at UMass Six-Way Meet, and posted the third best mark in school history (15 feet, 5 inches) at the Larry Ellis Invitational.

At the indoor A-10 Championships, the Minutemen finished seventh with freshman Philip Weltman (400-meter run) and sophomore Daniel Schwartz (heptathlon) giving the top performances of the day for UMass with third-place finishes.

‘The athletes who regularly finish in the top-five need to meet expectations,’ said O’Brien.‘Kids in the 5-to-10 range need to respond to the championship level competition and move up a few spots.The people that are usually just in the background can easily become scorers.’

The Minutewomen hope to improve on last year’s sixth-place finish despite the fact they are predicted to slip to seventh.

The anchor for the team throughout the outdoor season has been its field athletes.The trio of Lisa Wilson, Stephanie Aguguo and Ida Okkonen has been incredibly consistent.Wilson has not finished lower than fourth in any event this season, while Okkonen has won three events and Aguguo has posted three top-two finishes.

Wilson is undoubtedly UMass performer of the year and will have a huge impact of the meet.In consecutive weeks she set school records in the discus and the shot put.At the Larry Ellis Invitational she set the discus record with a throw of 156-02 and broke the shot put record the next week at the UMass Pre-Conference Meet with a mark of 44-11.50.

Junior Holly Heinricher has quietly been a solid contributor, and has been arguably the team’s best sprinter and one of its most versatile athletes.She has finished first in the 200 meter dash and fourth in the long jump.She has also been a key member of the relay teams.

At the indoor competition, the Minutewomen scored 49 points en route to a sixth-place finish.Aguguo (triple jump) and Wilson (shot put) led the way with fourth place finishes.

Charlotte has been tabbed to win both the men’s and women’s titles.

The meet will take place at Charlotte‘s Irwin Belk Track and Field Center on Saturday and Sunday.Saturday events begin at 9 a.m. with the combined heptathlon, while Sunday’s events start at 8:45 a.m. with the combined decathlon.

Mike Mastone can be reached at [email protected].

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