The Massachusetts men’s and women’s track and field teams competed in the Larry Ellis Invitational held in Princeton, N.J. and concluded the two-day event with a handful of New England Championships qualifiers as well setting a few records.
Despite a late start on Friday afternoon, the Minutemen had a strong showing in a very competitive field. UMass concluded day one with five New England Championships qualifiers as well as three Intercollegiate Association of Amateur Athletes of America (IC4A) qualifiers. Senior distance competitors Andrew McCann and Nicolai Naranjo qualified in the 5,000 meter run finishing in 20th and 21st overall with times of 14 minutes, 34.03 seconds and 14:34.13. Naranjo qualified for his second IC4A event having already qualified for it in the 10,000 meter run earlier this season.
Evan Donadt hurdled his way to the New England Championships, qualifying times in both the 110 meter and 400 meter hurdles event. Zachary Koncki improved his season-best time in the 110 meter hurdles, tying with Donadt for 24th overall. Sean Duncan and Sonny Gamble improved their qualifying times in the 3,000 meter steeple chase run with 16th and 17th place finishe respectively. Daniel Barry placed 19th overall in the 1,500 meter run with a time of 3:50.78 seconds while qualifying for the IC4A and New England Championships. Jonathan Pierce added to his successful senior season with a New England Championships qualifying time of 13:39.72 seconds in the 5,000 meter run.
Sean Busch improved upon his qualifying mark in the pole vault with a height of 15 feet, three inches, putting him just two inches shy of his career-best vault. Busch holds the third-best mark in school history at 15-5. The Minutemen finished the meet with eight New England Championships qualifiers and three IC4A qualifiers.
“This meet was really good chance for some of our guys to qualify with all the competitive teams and no pressure about scoring points,” UMass coach Ken O’Brien said.
The Minutewomen were once again led by Lisa Wilson, who broke her own school-record in the shot put for the second straight week with a toss of 46-11. Her freshman predecessor Nalis Mbianda was not far behind as she set a UMass top five all-time mark with a fifth-place throw of 44-4.25. Mbianda sits in third place all-time in UMass school history. Wilson took third in the hammer throw and fourth in the discus events as well.
Elizabeth Fisk finished third in the 1,500 meter run with a New England Championships qualifying time of 4:43.37. Freshmen Rachelle Bourque won the javelin throw while Nicole Pompei took second place in the pole vault with a mark of 11-3.75. Junior Gina Perno finished third in the 800 meter run and sophomore Karen Roa qualified for New England Championships in the 3,000 meter steeplechase with an eighth-place time of 10:54.97. Shiyi Zan and Lauren Stocker both qualified in the 5,000 meter run as well.
UMass will return to action on Saturday at the UNH Pre-Conference Meet in Durham, N.H.
Michael Counos can be reached at [email protected].edu.
