While both of the Massachusetts track and field teams competed in the Atlantic 10 championship meet this past weekend in North Kingston, R.I., neither came close to claiming the title.
The Minutemen finished in eighth, while the Minutewomen finished at the 11th spot. Host Rhode Island’s men’s squad was crowned champions, while the Charlotte women’s team garnered a victory as well.
Despite the “disappointing” overall finish, there were several solid performances for the Minutemen. Sophomore Stephen Bigelow qualified and finished seventh in the 60 meter hurdle in 8.58 seconds. This was Bigelow’s first indoor championship meet, and his efforts were enough to impress UMass coach Ken O’Brien.
“Making the finals in your first year of indoor college competition was impressive,” said O’Brien. “He has a long way to go, but that is a great start.”
Senior Zachary Koncki also qualified for the finals on the first day, but a pulled hamstring in the long jump forced him out of the competition. Koncki still collected third place in the long jump.
Sophomore Aaron Araujo was UMass’ highest finisher, claiming second place in the 400 meter dash. He qualified for the final at 50.24 on the first day and wrapped up the final at 49.59.
“Going in he ran two very good races,” said O’Brien. “He ran a very good time on Friday night, and then came back and just made the most of the decisions he had to make during the race, and was probably one of the better performers.”
Middle-distance runner Thomas Mullen missed out on the 1000 meter run finals by less than a 10th of a second, however he did not enter the competition at 100 percent, according to O’Brien.
“Thomas came down with a cold, or some flu-like thing,” said O’Brien. “The typical college kid winter ailment. He’d been our number one middle distance runner throughout the season, and came down with that at the wrong time. You can’t really go into a meet like that not at 100 percent because the competition is so even, just a little energy lost or a little mistake can cost you.”
On the second day, Mullen came back in the lead-off role of the 4×800 meter relay team. The team of underclassmen including Jared Reddy, Curt Owen and Antony Taylor qualified for the New England and IC4A championships with their combined 7:52.71 effort.
Junior Paul Grafov snuck into the final by six, 100ths of a second on first day. He was unable to improve his time, but did move up two places to seventh to earn a couple extra points for the team, running 1:06.15.
“He just narrowly got in, and then moved up a couple of spots,” said O’Brien. “It’s like any championship in any sport. Small things get magnified. [Every team] I’m sure all had those “just missed” kinds of things, like us.”
Overall, it was a tale of two days for the Minutemen, and O’Brien would have been pleased had the meet been just the single day.
“I would have been happier had they just cancelled the second day, and we wrapped up fifth, and went home,” said O’Brien. “The points didn’t add up for us, but I thought the team overall competed. The individuals that make up the team, they were fighting, scratching for everything they could get.”
Collection of NEC qualifiers
There was a collection of New England Championship qualifiers for the Minutewomen over the weekend, as well as an ECAC qualifier to join already-qualified Nalis Mbianda and Karen Roa.
Fitchburg native Chrissy Silvar qualified for the ECAC meet in the pole vault, clearing 11-09.75. Her mark was good enough to finish in fourth-place, and move her into a tie with Rihanna Cruz for fourth-place in the UMass record books.
Senior Deanna Julian qualified for NEC on the first day, running 2:58.46 in the 1000 meter run. On the second day, her 2:59.92 was good enough to claim sixth-place in the conference.
Middle-distance sophomore Sarah Bitterman qualified for the finals of the 500 meter dash with a 1:17.99 mark, good enough for fifth. However, on the second day, a 1:19.59 performance dropped her to ninth place in the final.
Shot putters Mbianda and Rachelle Bourque continued their strong seasons, placing sixth and eighth, respectively. Mbianda’s 43-09.25 claimed three points for the UMass squad, while Bourque broke a previous personal record with a 43-06.00 throw.
Roa ran to second-place in the 3000 meter run on the second day. Her 9:46.27 was not a season best, but, having already qualified for the NEC and ECAC meets, Roa has plenty of time to continue to chase the UMass 3000 meter record, held by Judy McCrone.
Championship season continues this weekend, as both squads travel into Boston to compete at the New England Championships, hosted by Boston University over two days.
Jeffrey Okerman can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @MDC_Okerman.
