April 22, 2008

Amherst, MA (UWIRE) -- This past weekend, the Massachusetts men and women's track and field teams competed at Princeton University in the Larry Ellis Invitational. UMass was led by a record-breaking performance from Lisa Wilson on the women's side and Andrew McCann on the men's side.

Wilson, a sophomore, recorded the second-best throw in UMass history in three separate events. She opened the weekend by finishing third in the hammer throw with an impressive distance of 168 feet, 11 inches, a distance that qualified her for the New England and ECAC championships. She then went on to finish second in the discuss throw and third in the shot put. Before Saturday, Wilson had the third-longest distance throws in UMass history in the shot put and discuss events.

Senior Christina DeRosa also had a very strong weekend for the Minutewomen, finishing third in the 5K run with a time of 16:41.49. Her time was quick enough to qualify her provisionally for the NCAA Championships. She now also owns the second-fastest time in UMass history for the run and qualified for the New England and ECAC championships.

The other top scorers for the women were Kristen Bakanowski, Holly Heinricher, Ros Murphy and Alisha Tatham, who made up the 4X100 relay team. They ran it in 47.49 seconds, which qualified them for the ECAC

Championships. In addition, Kristen Bakanowski, Brittany Bakanowski, Gina Perno and Tatham finished second in the 4x400 with a time of 3:52.51.

Andrew McCann had the top performance of the weekend for the Minutemen, as he finished third in the 5K run with a time of 14:21.40. With the strong outing he qualified for the New England Championships and the IC4A Championships.

During the Ellis Invitational, there were eight other UMass athletes and one relay team that qualified for postseason tournaments. The individual performers are led by senior Ryan Durkin and followed by Josh Boone, Sean Duncan, Shiyi Zan, Brittany Bakanowski, Jonathan Pierce, Nicolai Naranjo and Nils Fischer. The 4x100 relay team that finished eighth and qualified for the New England Championships includes Nathan Barksdale, Ian Hackney, Brian Miller and Samuel Laorenza.

(C) 2008 Massachusetts Daily Collegian via UWIRE