Jan. 20, 2010

Seniors Haley Catarius (Marshfield, MA) and William Nguidjoi (Lawrence, MA) were named the Northeast-10 Conference Track Athletes of the Week and led four UMass Lowell athletes to similar honors Tuesday.

Catarius was named the Women's Track Athlete of the Week while Nguidjoi earned the same honor for the men. Sophomore Chrissy Silvar (Fitchburg, MA) was named the Women's Field Athlete of the Week while Evan White (Tewksbury, MA) garnered Men's Freshman Athlete of the Week honors.

The honors followed a host of stellar results Saturday at the Tufts University Jumbo Invitational, in which the UMass Lowell women and men each placed second and took home nine individual titles and one relay championship between them.

Catarius won the 600 meters and eclipsed the school record with a time of 1:34.90, edging the previous mark of 1:36.63 set by sophomore Dana Jamieson (Dorchester, MA) at the 2009 Tufts Stampede.

Silvar also stood out among the women as she won the pole vault and shattered the school record with a height of 11 feet, 1.0 inches. She bested her own previous record of 10' 6.0'' (shared with Jackie Perrin, 2002) set at the 2008 Boston University Open.

Nguidjoi captured his first two titles of the season at Tufts, winning the long jump with a leap of 21' 1.0''. He then went on to win the triple jump with a distance of 44' 2.0''.

White, named the NE-10 Freshman Athlete of the Week for the second time this season, won the 200 meter dash in 22.78 seconds.

UMass Lowell enters the MIT Co-Ed Invitational Saturday while a select few athletes will compete at the Greater Boston Track Club Invitational at Harvard.