The Massachusetts track and field teams were split between two meets this weekend. Half of the team, mostly field events and short sprints, was at the Coaches Tribute Invitational at University of Rhode Island on Friday.
Meanwhile, many of the longer distance events took place over two days at Boston University in the David Hemery Valentine Invitational. In Boston, the women competed Friday and the men competed Saturday.
Freshman Danielle Notarfrancesco broke her own school record in the shot put with a throw of 48 feet, 7.5 inches. She then followed up that performance with a second-place toss in the weight throw, setting a mark of 51 feet, 1.5 inches.
Notarfrancesco was joined by classmates Lauren LaDere and Kelly Alves who placed third and seventh, respectively, in the shot put, and senior Mariah Collins who landed eighth with her performance in the weight throw.
The Minutewomen also added another name to the record book this weekend after junior Charlotte Robinson took third in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 9.06 seconds, while also running 9.05 seconds in the preliminary round, which is the fifth-best in program history.
Kayla Rorke also came very close to topping her own record book worthy mark, matching her fourth-best program performance in pole vault, clearing 11 feet, 11.75 inches, which was good for second in the meet.
It was also a great day for the Minutewomen jumpers, as sophomore Samantha Thompson won the high jump at 5 feet, 5.75 inches and freshman Jessy Iwuala cleared 5 feet, 4.25 inches for third. Patricia Douglas also joined them in the top eight, placing seventh.
In the long jump, UMass had the runner-up spot with freshman Ivana Nyemeck’s 17 feet, 6.25-inch jump. The Minutewomen took control of this event, boasting half of the top-eight finishers. Iwuala, sophomore Ashley Arroyo, and sophomore Sarah Endyke took fifth, sixth and eighth, respectively.
The men had 11 top-eight performances, including two silver medals. The runner-up in their respective events was senior John Chuma, jumping 15 feet, 6.25 inches in the pole vault and sophomore Noah Kortkamp in the 60-meter hurdles, running a time of 8.44 seconds.
Sophomore Hunter Gray took third with 22 feet, 0.75 inches in the long jump while Hayden Gray took fourth with a 7.10 second run in the 60-meter dash. The Minutemen placed three in the top-eight in high jump with junior Nathan Adeyemi and Kortkamp at fourth and sixth, respectively.
While long jump was a big event for UMass, high jump had a strong showing as well, with juniors Benjamin Murphy and Cole Acoveno taking fifth and sixth in the event.
The next meet for the track and field teams begins their indoor post-season schedule with the Atlantic 10 championship meet this weekend. The meet is a two-day championship in Kingston, Rhode Island beginning on Feb. 17.
Tyler Movsessian can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @t_movsessian.
