Track & Field: River Hawks Sending 13 Athletes to NCAA Championship
NCAA Championship Portions to Be Videostreamed on CSTV.com

LOWELL, MA (Mar. 6, 2008) – Thirteen members of the UMass Lowell women and men’s track and field teams – three relay teams and three individuals – qualified for the NCAA Division II Indoor Track and Field Championships, slated for Mar. 14-15 in Mankato, MN.

The NCAA Championship is hosted by Minnesota State University-Mankato. For the first time ever, nine hours of coverage each day will be videostreamed on the College Sports Television website: www.cstv.com.

Five River Hawks are making repeat appearances at the NCAAs, led by junior Andrew Grange (Methuen, MA), making his third indoor trip and fifth overall; and sophomore Doug Caves (Oxford, MA), who is making his second appearance indoors and third overall.

Caves and Grange, both All-Americans in the 2007 outdoor 400 meter dash, are seeded fourth and sixth in the indoor 400, by virtue of the fourth and sixth fastest results in Division II this season.

Caves brings a time of 47:98, achieved last Saturday at the New England Championship at Boston University, which he won. Grange’s time of 48.17 seconds came at the BU Terrier Classic on Jan. 26.

The two are undoubtedly looking for a similar outcome to last spring. Seeded 16th and 10th, Caves placed sixth in a school record 46.42 seconds while Grange was seventh in 46.97, stunning the field.

“Doug and Andrew have a lot of confidence coming off last spring,” said UML Head Coach Gary Gardner. “Doug looked great last weekend. Andrew is coming off a sinus infection, so we’re anxious to see how he bounces back.

“Both are seeded to make the finals,” Gardner added. “Obviously, everyone there is very good. So the goal is just to get into the finals and we’ll come up with a plan after that.”

UML’s distance medley relay team enters the NCAAs seeded third with a school-record time of 9:56.55 – then the fastest time in Division II – achieved Feb. 8 at the BU St. Valentine’s Day Invitational. Junior Ruben Sanca (Boston, MA) will run the mile (personal best 4:11.07 this season), instead of his usual 1,200 meters while freshman Sam Bastien (Canton, MA) will run the 400 meter dash (50.6).

Sophomore Mike Malinowski (Peabody, MA) is slated to run the 800 meters (1:56.40) while freshman Angus MacDonald (Methuen, MA) will fill in for graduate student Stephen DeWitt (Ellsworth, ME) in the 1,200. DeWitt, who ran the mile in 4:07.01 at the St. Valentine’s Day Invitational, was replaced due to a stress fracture.

“With Steve, we felt we had a chance to place in the top two or three, or if everything went well, to win,” Gardner noted. “We’re relying heavily on Ruben. We know he’s going to be more than solid. The goal is to finish within the top 6 or 7 teams, and that would be a good result for us.”

Sophomore Olivia Thibou (Boston, MA) leads the UML women as she enters the triple jump as the sixth seed. Thibou catapulted to the forefront last weekend at the New England Championship when she placed fourth overall (first among Division II-III athletes) with a career-best distance of 38 feet, 11.0 inches.

“Olivia has been jumping better and better every week,” said Gardner. “She has taken on a bigger workload this season. At the New Englands, all of her distances were all over 38 feet, so she is consistent at that distance now. She showed she belongs there.”

Also on the women’s side, UML’s distance medley relay and the 4X400 meter relay teams earned qualification for the second straight year. UML’s DMR team earned the eighth seed with a time of 11:56.42, a school record achieved at the St. Valentine’s Day Invitational.

Sophomore Haley Catarius (Marshfield, MA), a member of both teams last year, will run the 800 meters (2:13.40) while junior Christina DaLomba (Marstons Mills, MA) makes her second appearance in the DMR, and will run the 1,200 meters (3:40.09).

Joining them will be freshman Patricia Brice (Chelmsford, MA), who will run the 400 meter dash (57.80); and freshman Lyra Clark (Nashua, NH), who will run the mile (5:01.80).

“They are all running really well right now,” Gardner noted. “We need to start strong in the 1,200 and if all goes well, I think we can finish as high as third or fourth.”

Catarius and Brice are also members of UML’s 4X400 meter relay team, which earned the 15th seed with a time of 3:53.13, posted at the New England Championship last weekend (fourth place). Joining them will be junior Tristin Johnson (Pittsfield, MA), making her second NCAA indoor appearance (first since 2005), and sophomore Heather McCarthy (Burlington, MA).

“If we can finish in the top eight, that would be great,” said Gardner. “When we started the year, we never thought our 4X4 would be in this position. We ran really well at New Englands, and if we can run that again, we can steal a place.”

Both Sanca and Clark each qualified individually in the men and women’s mile (Sanca would’ve been seeded 16th, 4:11.87; and Clark 18th, 5:02.21), but opted to concentrate on their respective relays.

Two UML athletes, junior Rex Radloff (Dedham, MA) and freshman Cory Murray (Methuen, MA), unfortunately missed the cut for their events by only one place. Radloff posted the 17th fastest time in the 5,000 meters this season (14:41.77) while Murray was 14th on the Division II list in the shot put (54’ 2.75’’).

Following the NCAA Championship, UML dives right into its outdoor schedule, starting at the Coastal Carolina University Shamrock Invitational Mar. 20-22.

UMass Lowell’s NCAA Championship Schedule
Friday, March 14 (Central Standard Time)
5:45	Men’s 400 Meter Dash Preliminary (Doug Caves, Andrew Grange)
8:01	Women’s Distance Medley Relay
8:21	Men’s Distance Medley Relay
Saturday, March 15
4:30	Men’s 400 Meter Dash Final
4:45	Women’s Triple Jump (Olivia Thibou)
6:40	Women’s 4X400 Meter Relay
6:50	Men’s 4X400 Meter Relay
7:00	Awards Ceremonies