Feb. 26, 2010

Results

UMass Lowell’s men’s distance medley relay team placed first and set a school record to highlight a host of stellar results on day one of the New England Indoor Track and Field Championships Friday at Boston University’s Track and Tennis Center.

The high profile meet pits New England colleges and universities of all three NCAA divisions against one another. Most of Friday’s events – save for the distance medley, long jump and pole vault – served as qualifiers as the finals are slated for Saturday.

Eight UMass Lowell athletes – led by senior Haley Catarius (Marshfield, MA), junior Donte Brown (Raynham, MA) and sophomore Ashley Zielinski (Manchester, NH) – advanced to Saturday’s finals.

UMass Lowell’s distance medley relay team posted a time of 9:53.97 to capture the title just ahead of Southern Connecticut (9:56.13) and Amherst College (9:56.73). The result unseated the previous school record of 9:54.15 set in 2008 and virtually guarantees UMass Lowell a spot in the NCAA Championship.

Senior Tim Guerin (Auburn, MA) ran the 1,200 meters in 3:01.0 while sophomore Jeff Wundt (Southwick, MA) followed in the 400 meter dash in 47.65 seconds. Sophomore Danny Wang (Haverhill, MA) ran the 800 meters in 1:54.6 while junior Angus MacDonald (Methuen, MA) ran the mile in 4:09.7.

Other finals today included the long jump, in which senior William Nguidjoi (Lawrence, MA) placed fifth overall (third among II-III athletes) with a distance of 22 feet, 3.75 inches; and the pole vault, in which sophomore Chrissy Silvar (Fitchburg, MA) cleared 10’ 6.0’’ to place tied for 10th overall (sixth).

As far as individual qualifiers, Catarius led the way as she captured the 500 meters preliminary race in 1:15.60, edging Olivia Pruszko of Holy Cross (1:16.07) and Eryn Wheeler of Northeastern (1:16.35) to ensure her place in Saturday’s final. The result was just shy of her school-record time of 1:15.16, set last week at the Northeast-10 Conference Championship.

Brown and Zielinski each finished tops among Division II and III entries in their events. Brown took third overall in the 400 meter dash in 48.61 seconds, trailing only Alexander Engel of Bryant (48.55) and David Kennedy of Rhode Island (47.79).

Zielinski moves on in two events as she placed sixth overall (first) in the 55 meter hurdles in 8.23 seconds and ninth (second) in the 200 meter dash in 25.46 seconds.

Junior Lauren Raimondi (East Longmeadow, MA) joins Zielinski in Saturday’s 55 meter hurdles final as she took 12th (fourth) in the preliminary in 8.42 seconds.

Freshman Shannon Cunningham (Foxboro, MA) and sophomore Nicole Giaquinto (Winthrop, MA) will each move on to the final in the 400 meter dash. Cunningham placed eighth (fifth) in the qualifier in 57.17 seconds while Giaquinto took 10th (seventh) in 58.14.

Senior Sharikka Finley-Moise (Lexington, MA) moves on to the 55 meter dash final as she took 15th (fourth) in 7.40 seconds. Junior Matt Blazon (Lowell, MA) qualified for the final in the 55 meter hurdles, placing 14th in 7.90 seconds.