University of Massachusets Athletics
UMass To Compete In UNH Pre-Conference Meet
April 24, 2008 | Women's Track & Field
April 24, 2008
AMHERST, Mass. - On Saturday, the UMass track and field teams will travel to the University of New Hampshire to compete in the UNH Pre-Conference Meet. The meet will serve as the final tune up for both teams before the Atlantic 10 Outdoor Championships, which will be hosted by UMass, May 3-4.
This past weekend, the track and field teams traveled to Princeton, New Jersey to take part in the Larry Ellis Invitational. Sophomore Lisa Wilson (Holden, Mass.) was the star of the weekend after dominating the throwing competition and recording the second-best throw in school history in three different events. Wilson began by taking third place in the hammer throw competition with a distance of 168 feet, 11 inches. Her throw also qualified her for the New England Championships and the ECAC Championships. Wilson followed by taking second place in the discus throw with a distance of 152 feet. Finally, Wilson took third in the shot put competition with a throw of 43 feet, 10.75 inches. Wilson previously held the third-best throw in the shot put and discus throw.
Senior Christina DeRosa (Sound Beach, N.Y.) also had a strong performance at the Invitational. DeRosa placed second in the 5K run with a NCAA provisional qualifying time of 16:41.49. DeRosa improved on her time from last week and now holds the second fastest time at UMass. In addition, DeRosa also qualified for the New England Championships and the ECAC Championships.
Senior Alisha Tatham (Brampton, Ontario) took sixth pace in the 200 meter dash with a time of 24.82 seconds. Tatham's time not only qualified her for the ECAC Championships, but is also the fifth fastest time at UMass.
During the weekend, there were multiple athletes who qualified for the post season. The relay team of red-shirted junior Kristen Bakanowski (Northboro, Mass.), sophomore Ros Murphy (Beverly, Mass.), sophomore Holly Heinricher (Foxboro, Mass.) and Alisha Tatham placed second in the 4x100 meter relay. Their time of 47.49 seconds qualified them for the ECAC Championships. Sophomore Andrew McCann (Fayetteville, N.Y.) had the best performance of the day for the men after taking third place in the 5K run. McCann's time of 14:21.40 qualified him for both the New England Championships and the IC4A Championships. Eight other athletes and one relay team also qualified for the New England Championships.
In addition to the Larry Ellis Invitational, four members of the track and field team competed in the Holy Cross Multi Event Meet at Holy Cross during the week.
Last week, four members of the UMass track and field team headed out to Holy Cross to take part in the Holy Cross Multi Event Meet. Freshman Daniel Schwartz (Sudbury, Mass.) placed sixth out of 26 competitors in the decathlon to score 5,610 points. Schwartz scored a seasonal best distance of 82 feet in the discus throw and 30 feet, 5.75 inches in the shot put. Schwartz scored the most points (635) in the 110 meter hurdles to finish with a time of 16.90 seconds. Freshman Chris Dzidek (Chicopee, Mass.) placed 14th in the decathlon with a score of 5,274 points. Dzidek had a seasonal best performance in the shot put competition with throw of 35 feet, 11.5 inches. Dzidek also scored the most points (645) in the 110 meter hurdled to finish in 16.80 seconds.
Freshman Jaclyn Imhoff (Milton, Mass.) placed ninth out of 21 competitors in the heptathlon to score 3,857 points. Imhoff had a seasonal best performance in the javelin throw with a distance of 96 feet, 7 inches. Imhoff scored the most points (655) in the high jump competition with a height of 5 feet, ¼ inch. Freshman Elaina Zizza (Stoneham, Mass.) finished 14th in the heptathlon to score 3,351 points. Zizza scored the most points (595) in the 100 meter hurdled to finish with a time of 17.01 seconds.
UMass will play host to the Atlantic 10 Outdoor Championships next weekend. Stay tuned to umassathletics.com for more information.