02/26/2018
Lowell Sun
BOSTON -- UMass Lowell men's track and field team did the unthinkable as it won the America East Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships at Boston University on Saturday.
"Awesome" was the response from UMass Lowell head coach Gary Gardner after the River Hawks ended Albany's 13-year run at the top of heap in the nine-team conference.
"Albany has a great team," said Gardner. "They have good kids and they are well coached, I wasn't sure that we would ever beat them. Everything had to go right and it did."
UMass Lowell took first with 173 points. Albany was second with 168.5. Binghamton finished third with 98.5.
Several local athletes shined.
Senior Paul Hogan (Burlington) and junior Chris Skelly (Pepperell) finished second and fourth, respectively, in the 3,000 meters.
Three River Hawks also scored in the shot put. Grad student John Fiorello (Tewksbury) finished second, senior Ryan Kerrigan (Dracut) was third. Both threw over 53 feet.
Freshman Mark Dunne (Westford) added one more point with an eighth-place finish.
On the women's side, the River Hawks placed third.
Albany won with 215 points, Stony Brook (124) was second and UML (114.5) was right behind.
Senior Alli Wood (Chelmsford) shaved a half second off the school record in the 800 meters. She finished second with a time of two minutes, 09.25 seconds. Wood had set the record at 2:09.78 earlier in the season.
Wood and Katherine Equi were also part of the 4x800-meter relay team that earned a third-place finish. Freshman Emily Sessa (Tewksbury), Equi, senior Alyson Comeau and Wood combined for a time of 9:03.34.
Sessa was also fourth in the 1,000. Senior Marissa Richards (Lowell) ran to a fifth-place finish in the 3,000 in 9:55.19.