UMass' Gina Perno Takes Second Place at BU Valentine Invitational

Feb. 10, 2008

BOSTON, Mass. - This past weekend, the UMass track and field teams traveled to Boston to take part in the Boston University Valentine Invitational. The top performance of the day came from freshman Gina Perno (Plainview, N.Y.) who took second place in the 1000 meter run. With a time of 2:56.88, Perno qualified for the New England Championships and the ECAC. Perno placed second out of fifty-one runners. The other top performance of the day came from senior Christina DeRosa (Sound Beach, N.Y.) who placed ninth in the 3000 meter run. DeRosa's time of 9:49.36 is now the third fastest time at UMass and also qualified her for the New England Championships and the ECAC. For the men, sophomore Nicolai Naranjo (Essex Fells, N.J.) qualified for the New England Championships and the IC4A after placing twenty-fourth in the 3000 meter run with a time of 8:28.51. Junior Josh Boone (Gardner, Mass.) placed seventeenth in the one mile run with a time of 4:12.73 to also qualify him for the New England Championships and the IC4A.

In addition to these top performances, multiple men and women qualified for the New England Championships. Freshman Darius Velez placed sixth in the 55 meter dash preliminaries with a time of 6.50 seconds. In the 200 meter dash, senior Nathan Barksdale (Valparaiso, Indiana) placed fifty-fourth with a time of 22.62 seconds, while sophomore Ian Hackney (Stratford, Conn.) placed fifty-sixth in 22.63 seconds. In the 400 meter dash, sophomore Andrew O'Donnell (Plymouth, Mass.) placed forty-fifth in 50.09 seconds and sophomore Samuel Laorenza (North Andover, Mass.) placed forty-ninth in 50.37 seconds. Sophomore Ryan Diorio (Bridgewater, N.J.) placed fifty-third in the 800 meter run with a time of 1:56.54. The men's relay team of Andrew O'Donnell, Samuel Laorenza, freshman Daniel Schwartz (Sudbury, Mass.), and Ian Hackney placed twenty-fourth with a time of 3:22.57. In field events, sophomore Brian Miller (Foxboro, Mass.) placed sixth in the high jump competition with a height of 6 feet, 6 inches. For the women, sophomore Holly Heinricher (Foxboro, Mass.) placed thirty-third in the 200 meter dash in 25.54 seconds. Sophomore Brittany Bakanowski (Northboro, Mass.) placed thirtieth in the 500 meter dash in 1:19.80 and Senior Taryn Trapp (Nampa, Idaho) placed eighteenth in the 1000 meter run with a time of 3:02.45.

In other men's events, sophomore Tyler Cotto (Holliston, Mass.) placed tenth in the 55 meter hurdles with a time of 7.70 seconds. Daniel Schwartz place thirty-sixth with a time of 1:07.26 in the 500 meter dash. In the 3000 meter dash, sophomore Jonathan Pierce (Hanover, Mass.) placed thirtieth in 8:32.82. Junior Jesse Regnier (Hampden, Mass.) placed thirty-third in 8:34.55, while senior Matt Klypka (Oakland, N.J.) finished in thirty-seventh with a time of 8:38.45.

In field events, freshman Sean Busch (Stow, Mass.) placed twenty-second in the pole vault with a height of 13 feet, 7.25 seconds. In the long jump, Brian Miller placed twenty-ninth with a distance of 20 feet, 2.50 inches.

For the women, red-shirted senior Danielle Bolt (Mattapan, Mass.) took eight place in the 55 meter dash in 7.26 seconds and twentieth in the 200 meter dash in 25.54 seconds. Red-shirted freshman Shiyi Zan (Ottawa, Ontario) placed fortieth in the one mile run with a time of 5:11.50. The women's relay team of sophomore Ros Murphy (Beverly, Mass.), Danielle Bolt, Holly Heinricher, and red-shirted junior Kristen Bakanowski (Northboro, Mass.) placed twentieth in the 4x400 meter relay with a time of 4:00.66.

In field events, freshman Jaclyn Imhoff (Milton, Mass.) placed ninetieth in the high jump competition with a height of 5 feet, 2.25 inches. Kristen Bakanowski took fifth place in the pole vault competition with a height of 11 feet, 9.75 inches. Sophomore Molly Chapin (Northfield, Mass.) placed twenty-third in the pole vault with a height of 9 feet, 8 inches. In the shot put, sophomore Lisa Wilson (Holden, Mass.) placed sixteenth with a distance of 40 feet, ½ inch.

Next weekend, both teams will travel to Kingston, Rhode Island for the 2008 Atlantic 10 Championships.

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