Home field advantage proved to help the Massachusetts men’s track and field team as it placed third in Saturday’s UMass Invitational.

Stellar individual performances from several different athletes contributed to a complete team effort as the Minutemen finished the competition with five first-place athletes and a combined eight second and third-place finishes on the day.

The early spring weather set the scene for UMass as it competed in its first home meet, when UMass coach Ken O’Brien’s squad tallied a 133-point performance. UMass’ 4×100 meter relay team left with an early victory, taking first place with a time of 42.43. The team mark was good enough to qualify them for the IC4A Championships, which take place at Princeton the second weekend in May.

Freshmen Patrick McGowan and Antony Taylor both competed in the 1500-meter run. As McGowan placed second with a time of 3:58.09, Taylor trailed a couple of minutes behind, finishing fifth. Sophomore Paul Grafov and junior Evan Donadt continued their great running of late, each recording a second-place finish in the 400 meter dash and 400 intermediate hurdles, respectively. Freshman Aaron Araujo landed a spot behind Donadt in third, less than a second later.

The Minutemen had two of their five first-place finishers in the sprints and hurdles. Senior Tyler Cotto and freshman Quinn Ryder, members of the first place 4×100 relay team, each added individual first-place performances. Cotto ran an impressive 14.67 mark in the 110-meter hurdles, besting his IC4A qualifier time of last weekend by .11 of a second.

In an interview with UMass Athletics, O’Brien talked about the efficiency of his team’s one-two punch, attributing the success to a core of excellent individuals, but stating they’re almost secondary to a great supporting cast.

Daniel Wu built on a string of strong long jumps by grabbing the top spot in the long jump with a distance of 23-02.50. Kevin Spieler followed suit, beating out his competition in the shot-put with a distance of 48-2. The senior tallied a second place finish in the discus throw, as well. David McKenna came up short of fellow upperclassman Spieler, finishing close behind in third as well as seventh in the hammer toss.

Grafov helped the 4×400 meter relay team conquer third place as it posted a time of 3:24.29.

Minutemen place in Husky Decathlon

UMass sent three of its competitors to the Husky Decathlon Invitational in Storrs, Conn. last Thursday and Friday. Sophomore Conor McGee led the three Minutemen in the field after day one, sitting in seventh overall after five events. Saint Louis college transfer Mark Hewitt surpassed McGee in the field, finishing in sixth place with a point total of 5736. McGee finished in 10th with senior Chris Dzidek following close behind in 11th. .

UMass will return to action on Saturday for The Minutemen Invitational, its second-straight home meet. The event is slated to begin at 11:30 a.m.

Matt Strong can be reached at [email protected].