Feb. 19, 2010

Results
View Highlights (courtesy Pack Network)

Senior Haley Catarius (Marshfield, MA) won the 500 meters and set a school and meet record for the second straight year as the UMass Lowell women's track and field team captured the Northeast-10 Conference Championship Thursday night at the Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center.

The title was UMass Lowell's sixth (second straight) in the nine years that the NE-10 has sponsored indoor track and field. The River Hawks won four events and scored 137 points to edge Stonehill (111) and Southern Connecticut (108).

The University of New Haven placed fourth with 69 points and was followed by American International (57), Adelphi (48), Bentley (27), Saint Rose (26) and Assumption (6).

UMass Lowell Head Coach Gary Gardner was named the NE-10 Women's Coach of the Year for the second straight year and sixth time since 2002.

Catarius won the 500 meters in a meet record 1:15.16, besting her previous meet record of 1:17.08. Her result also surpassed the previous UMass Lowell record of 1:15.38, set by Patricia Brice (Chelmsford, MA) in 2009.

Senior Jacqui Barrett (Woburn, MA) was also a repeat winner as she captured the shot put and exceeded the NCAA automatic qualifying mark for the third time this season. Barrett's throw of 47' 7.25'' was nearly a foot past the remainder of the field.

Freshman Robyn Ciriello (Salem, NH) placed third in the shot put with a toss of 38' 0.25''.

Sophomore Chrissy Silvar (Fitchburg, MA) captured the pole vault and broke the school record for the second time this season. Silvar cleared 11 feet, 2.25 inches, besting her previous mark of 11' 1.0''.

UMass Lowell's 4X400 meter relay team also won the title for the second straight year and set a meet record with a time of 4:00.29, just ahead of Stonehill (4:01.97) and Southern Connecticut (4:03.87). The result eclipsed the previous record of 4:00.31 by a mere 0.02 seconds, set by Southern Connecticut in 2006.

Sophomore Ashley Zielinski (Manchester, NH) led off with a 60.8-second leg while freshman Shannon Cunningham (Foxboro, MA) followed in 60.1 seconds. Sophomore Nicole Giaquinto (Winthrop, MA) ran a 59.8-second split while sophomore Amy Delgado (Bridgewater, MA) anchored in 59.4 seconds.

Junior Lyra Clark (Nashua, NH) placed second in the mile and provisionally qualified for the NCAAs. After running a 5:00.6 mile in the distance medley relay last week, Clark posted a time of 5:02.90 and is eyeing her own school record of 5:02.21.

Depth played a huge role in the title repeat as five River Hawks finished as runners-up in their events. Zielinski and junior Lauren Raimondi (East Longmeadow, MA) finished second and third, respectively, in the 55 meter hurdles as both met NCAA provisional marks. Zielinski posted a time of 8.33 seconds while Raimondi was right behind in 8.40.

Raimondi also placed in a tie for third in the high jump, clearing 5' 1.75''.

Delgado and Giaquinto placed 2-3 in the 400 meter dash, Delgado in 58.22 seconds and Giaquinto in 58.31.

Cunningham, Zielinski and senior Sharikka Finley-Moise (Lexington, MA) placed 2-4 in the 200 meter dash. Cunningham led the way in 25.76 seconds while Zielinski was close behind in 25.89 and Finley-Moise in 26.18.

Finley-Moise also took fourth in the 55 meter dash in 7.38 seconds, just behind senior Katrina Lutkus (Lowell, MA), who placed third in 7.36.

Junior Sarah Bonomo (Tewksbury, MA) finished the runner-up in the 5,000 meters in 18:26.29.

UMass Lowell gears for the New England Championship next Friday and Saturday at Boston University's Track & Tennis Center.