The Massachusetts track and field teams spent the weekend competing in two different meets in New England.
The Minutemen visited New Haven, Conn., to compete at the Giegengack Invitational, while the Minutewomen made their third trip to North Kingston, R.I., for the Tribute to Charles Torpey Invitational.
At the Giegengack Invitational, hosted by Yale University, UMass came away with several personal records.
The trend began with freshman multi-event Peter Farlow who recorded a personal best in the 200-meter dash with a time of 23.18. He shredded his previous best by .73 seconds. Farlow also participated in the 60-meter hurdles, 1000-meter run, high jump, long jump and shot put.
“We have three people who comprise of the bulk of multi-event people,” said UMass coach Ken O’Brien. “We haven’t been able to get them to [a multi-event meet] yet, so we took them and simulated a multi-event for them out of a regular meet, not having a multi-event at our disposal.”
Aaron Araujo, one member of the squad that didn’t achieve a personal best, remained consistent in his times, placing fourth in the 400-meter dash, in a time of 49.98 seconds. O’Brien pointed out while there have been times Araujo’s looked faster, he was still “pleased with the consistency.”
In the 800-meter run, freshman Curt Owen came away with a personal best, running 1:58.06. It was his first time in the 800, and O’Brien conceded that he was trying “to strengthen his endurance, in order to grow between indoor and outdoor track,” by having him in the mile, on a number of occasions.
“This is the first time he has competed in his specialty event,” said O’Brien. “I thought he handled it very well, and he will improve on that dramatically in the coming weeks.”
In the longer distance races, O’Brien had some of his athletes competing twice. Thomas Mullen finished with a time of 2:01.21 in the 800-meter and 4:15.69 in the one mile run, while Michael Giardina also competed in the 800-meter and one mile run, recording times of 2:02.56 and 4:18.54, respectively. In addition, Jared Reddy crossed the line with a time of 2:32.97 in the 1000-meter and finished the one mile at 4:20.99.
“It was a tough double,” said O’Brien. “In the early to middle part of our season we will try to prepare our kids best for the later part of our season. When they go to [championship meets], there are trials at those meets. We are trying to prepare them for trials in the 1000, mile, two mile, so we stack the meet up in preparation for that.”
O’Brien also praised the depth of the hurdling unit. Stephen Bigelow took first overall, while Zachary Koncki placed fourth, and Farlow eighth.
One state over, in North Kingston, UMass coach Julia LaFreniere saw her Minutewomen compete well against Atlantic 10 competition in the Tribute to Charles Torpey Invitational.
Freshman Rachel Hilliard took a big step up in the mile, finishing in 5:13.56, besting her previous mark of 5:25 earlier in the season. The large improvement pleased LaFreniere.
“Her first two collegiate races were pretty awful,” said LaFreniere. “I didn’t feel like she was competing. She was able to come back [this weekend] and really show us why we recruited her. She is showing some good promise.”
Katie Powers ran a time of 3:02.54 in the 1000-meter run. LaFreniere slotted her into the same category as Hilliard, as someone who “trained hard but wasn’t racing.”
In the 800, sophomore Meghan Leahy finished in 10th place and came across in 2:21.99, while freshman Courtney Neves finished nine spots behind Leahy with a time of 2:25.48. Both were competing in the 800-meter run for the first time, and for Neves, it was her first collegiate race overall. LaFreniere mentioned both as runners to watch in the future.
“It’s actually pretty respectable, and I see a bright future for her,” said LaFreniere. “By outdoor track I see [Leahy] running 2:14 [and] Neves at 2:25.”
After watching Neves run a solid first collegiate race, LaFreniere knows her potential is immense.
“That’s not indicative of what she can do. She was up front, and ran out of gas. When she gets her racing legs under her she’ll be fine.”
There was a familiar sight in the 500-meter dash, with Sarah Bitterman leading the UMass contingent in the race, at 1:18.39. However, LaFreniere attributed a technical error to her inability to keep up with the leaders in the race.
“She allowed herself to be cut off, and once you lose your momentum at an all-out sprint, it’s hard to get back,” said LaFreniere.
A number of Minutewomen had solid showings in the field events. Ashley Palmer, and Rebecca Stoyle, competed in the high jump and finished in third place and seventh place, respectively. Stoyle then teamed up with Jaclyn Lam to get first and second in the triple jump, with Stoyle claiming the top spot, and Lam following behind.
Kaylee DeVincent was able to fight through a sore back to place seventh in the weight throw, while a technical adjustment from Nalis Mbianda allowed her to jump up to eighth. However, Mbianda struggled, in the shot put where she dropped two feet from the distance she put up at the Joe Donahue Indoor Games a week earlier.
Both teams now regroup and prepare for their final meet before championship season starts, with the Valentine Invitational, hosted by Boston University on Feb. 10 for the women and Feb. 11 for the men.
Jeffrey Okerman can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @MDC_Okerman.
