The Massachusetts women’s track and field team scored 125.5 points and captured first place Saturday in Kingston, Rhode Island in the University of Rhode Island Coaches Tribute Invitational, outlasting the Rams (118.75 points) and Holy Cross (81 points) which took second and third, respectively.
Sophomore Emilie Cowan had a stellar performance in the 200-meter dash. Cowan beat teammate Diamante Spencer’s record of 25.00 seconds and set the new mark with a blazing 24.80 seconds to take first.
Spencer ran 25.71 seconds for third and freshman Lindsay Witt picked up a point with her 25.93 seconds, good for fifth place and qualifying her for the New England Championship meet.
Cowan also took gold in the 500 meter with a time of 1:14.34 which qualifies for the New England Championship and ECAC meets.
Junior Colleen Sands grabbed a first-place finish in the 3000 meter at 10:12.03, a New England qualifying time. Senior Christine Davis (10:34.64) and sophomore Brook Hansel (10:35.48) took sixth and seventh in the 3000, respectively.
Mary Lavery took fourth in the mile in 4:58.48 and Olivia Weir took the same place in the 800-meter dash with her time of 2:15.44.
Another win for the Minutewomen came in the shot put, as record holding senior Kelsey Crawford celebrated a winning throw of 46-feet, six inches. Classmate Margaret Riseborough was fourth at 41-feet, 0.25 inches, and fifth was senior Sara Wagner with a 40-foot, 5.5-inch toss.
Crawford finished fifth (49 feet, 6.5 inches), Wagner seventh (47, 7.75 inches) and Risenborough eighth (47, 2.5 inches) in the weight throw. The three athletes were responsible for a cumulative 26 points, a large boost to help UMass win the meet.
Freshman Samantha Thomas continued to jump as well as she has all season. Her leap of five feet, five inches was good enough for first place, while sophomores Julia Witt and Gabrielle Bennett tied for seventh at five feet, three inches.
Freshman Jada Harris took second in the 60 meter hurdles at 8.90 seconds and Bennett finished sixth at 9.12 seconds. Both were New England Championship qualifiers.
The distance medley relay team (1200 meters, 400 meters, 800 meters, 1600 meters) composed of senior Deirdre Martyn, Weir, Cowan and sophomore Sydney Clary finished in second with a time of 12:33.54.
Minutemen compete at Giegengack Invitational
The men were across state lines in New Haven, Connecticut at Yale University for the Giegengack Invitational on Friday. The meet was unscored, but great performances were on display as the Minutemen prepare for the postseason.
UMass displayed a great effort in the 1000-meter dash, with junior Brian Gendron (2:27.25), sophomore Zachary Frahlich (2:29.19) and senior Cory Thomas (2:30.65) finishing first, second and third respectively.
Evan Burton tossed a 55-foot weight throw to qualify for the New England Championships. It was good enough for fifth all-time in the Minutemen record book.
Russell Wells took silver in the 800 meter run with a performance of 1:55.53 and freshman Nicholas Santos finished in eighth at 1:58.43.
In the 60 meter hurdles, freshman Hunter Gray ran 8.48 seconds for second place while freshman Nathan Narcisse was fourth at 8.63 seconds.
The 4×400 meter relay also saw two UMass scoring teams. Freshman Kevin Shannon, senior Alexander Finestone, sophomore Andrew Hanwell and junior Andrew Burke placed second with a time of 3:23.69. In fifth-place was the team of junior Cory Adelson, sophomore Michael Hunter, Santos and junior Adam Selsman for their performance of 3:28.60.
Senior Deion Arneaud took third in long jump with a leap of 21 feet, 8.75 inches, junior Adam Bonfilio finished fifth at 20 feet, 10 inches and Hunter Gray took sixth at 20 feet, 6.5 inches.
In high jump, sophomores Cole Acoveno (six feet, 3.5 inches) and Benjamin Murphy (six feet, 2 inches) took third and seventh place, respectively.
Both teams are back in action next weekend for the David Hemery Valentine Invitational in Boston. The women begin action on Friday, Feb. 10 while the men start on Saturday, Feb. 11.
Tyler Movsessian can be reached at [email protected].
