Feb. 14, 2010

Results

UMass Lowell’s 4X400 meter relay team placed second while its distance medley relay team took third and provisionally qualified for the NCAA Championship to highlight the Boston University St. Valentine’s Day Invitational Saturday at the BU Track and Tennis Center.

The meet drew colleges from all three NCAA divisions as well as many athletes representing postgraduate track and field club across the United States and Canada.

The River Hawk 4X400 team placed second overall and tops among collegiate foursomes with a time of 3:13.69, bested only by Zenith Velocity, which ran 3:11.0.

Junior Donte Brown (Raynham, MA) led off with a time of 48.1 seconds and was followed by sophomore Jeff Wundt (Southwick, MA), who ran a 47.9-second leg. Freshman Craig Bennett (Milton, MA) followed with a 48.4-second split while senior Robert Liekweg (Salem, NH) anchored in 48.9.

Bennett also ran the 400 meters in the distance medley relay in 48.5 seconds, leading it to a time of 9:59.63, good for third place behind Boston College (9:57.63) and Lock Haven (9:56.55). UMass Lowell’s result currently ranks eighth in the country.

Senior Tim Guerin (Auburn, MA) led off in the 1,200 meters in 3:05.03, and was followed by Bennett. Freshman Chris Estrella (Lowell, MA) ran the 800 meters in 1:56.2 while junior Angus MacDonald (Methuen, MA) anchored in the mile in 4:09.5.

Several athletes turned in stellar individual efforts, led by junior Cory Murray (Methuen, MA), who placed 10th overall (fourth among Division II-II throwers) in the shot put with a toss of 49 feet, 8.25 inches.

Freshman Nick Delguidice (Leominster, MA) placed 10th (fourth) in the 500 meters in 1:05.45. Sophomore Jeff Veiga (Lowell, MA) took 13th (sixth) in the 5,000 meters in 14:51.11.

Junior Matt Blazon (Lowell, MA) gave his best performance to date as he placed 14th (fifth) in the 55 meter hurdles in 8.08 seconds, up from his place of 15th in the preliminary (8.06).

UMass Lowell enters the Northeast-10 Conference Championship Thursday night at the Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center.