In the last few weeks of her UMass career, redshirt senior Heather MacLean continues to impress. This time, she smashed the 39-year-old outdoor mile record, posting a time of 4:43.99, seconds ahead of the previous school record set in 1979.
This performance, which was good for second in the event, was the highlight of an eventful weekend as the Massachusetts track and field teams competed in the Ocean State Meet in Providence, Rhode Island.
“She ran a great mile on Friday night,” said assistant coach David Jackson. “She’s building more confidence with each race as she finishes off her final collegiate season at UMass.”
Not only did MacLean’s race set an impressive record, but Jackson also credits her performance with setting the tone for a great day among the distance women. He notes Colleen Sand’s performance in the 5,000-meter run with a time of 17:07.62, which is just .32 seconds shy of landing in the top-five in program history herself.
MacLean, however, wasn’t alone in etching her name into the record book once again, as she was accompanied by two throwers. First there was redshirt senior Mariah Collins who had a toss of 162 feet, one inch to take third in the hammer throw and move into fifth in program history. Then there was redshirt senior Evan Burton who threw a personal best in the discus of 161 feet, six inches to win the event. Burton’s throw put him at fourth all-time in program history in the event.
Burton was joined by two more winners in the field events. Senior John Chuma took first in the pole vault at 15 feet, 5.5 inches, and John Long won the javelin throw with a mark of 190 feet, seven inches. Both men were accompanied by a third-place finishing teammate. In the pole vault it was Mason Lord at 14 feet, 5.5 inches and in the javelin, graduate student Sam Downes threw 173 feet, one inch for bronze.
“The main thing is we just want to come out every time and compete, and that’s what we did this weekend,” Jackson said. “We still have some technical pieces to work on, but it is nice to come out with some individual wins and show consistency, even in a non-scored meet.”
There were also two winners wearing UMass maroon on the track this weekend. Junior Jake DeGrace won the 110-meter hurdles in 14.81 seconds while classmate Michael Famiglietti took the win in the 3,000-meter run with a time of 8:36.4.
The women also saw two winners this weekend. The first was sophomore Jada Harris who, despite a minor injury, won the 100-meter hurdles in 14.51 seconds. Meanwhile, in the shotput, freshman Danielle Notarfrancesco continues to impress, improving her fourth-best program record mark with a throw of 46 feet, 7.35 inches.
The track and field teams have a quick turnaround for several events that will send the team in multiple directions. The multi-athletes have the Holy Cross Pentathlon and Decathlon on April 18 and 19. The team will also see action at both the Larry Ellis Invitational in Princeton, New Jersey on April 20 and 21 and the Holy Cross Invitational on April 21.
Tyler Movsessian can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @t_movsessian.
