University of Massachusets Athletics
UMass Track & Field Prepares For Valentine Invitational
February 12, 2009 | Women's Track & Field
Feb. 12, 2009
Boston, Mass. - The UMass men's and women's track and field teams travel to Boston for the third time this weekend for the Valentine Invitational held at Boston University. The Minutemen and Minutewomen will make the drive across the state twice more after this weekend, for a total of five trips to Beantown. Last season at the Valentine Invitational, sophomore Gina Perno (Plainview, N.Y.) took second in the 1000 meter run to qualify for ECAC competition. For the men, the top performance came from junior Nicolai Naranjo (Essex Falls, N.J.) who qualified for the IC4A's after running the 3000 meter in a time of 8:28.51.
This year's event is a two-day affair, with all women competing on Friday and all men's events taking place on Saturday, except for the distance medley relay squads, which will compete on opposite days. Competition commences at 12:30 p.m. on Friday and 10:45 a.m. on Saturday.
For the Minutewomen, redshirt senior Kristen Bakanowski (Northboro, Mass.) and Ida Okkonen (Kuopio, Finland) are the only individuals to qualify for ECAC competition--Bakanowski in the pole vault and Okkonen in the long jump. Bakanowski joins her sister Brittany, Claire Pettit (Warwick, N.Y.) and Holly Heinricher (Foxboro, Mass.) in earning a spot at ECAC's in the 4x400 meter relay.
Last season at the Valentine Invitational, Kristen Bakanowski ranked fifth in the pole vault with a height of 11-feet, 9.75 inches. Heinricher ran the 200-meter dash in 25.54 and graduated UMass standout Christina DeRosa finished ninth in the 3000 meter to give her the third fastest time in UMass history (9:49.36).
On the men's side, three runners and one relay team have qualified for IC4A Championship competition. Juniors Sam Laorenza (North Andover, Mass.), Jonathan Pierce (Hanover, Mass.), and Tyler Cotto (Holliston, Mass.) all qualified at the Terrier Invitational. Laorenza in the 500 meter dash, Pierce in the 3000 meter run, and Cotto in the 55 meter hurdles. The distance medley relay team also qualified for championship competition with a time of 10:15.39 at the Terrier Invitational.
Last season, in addition to Naranjo, junior Josh Boone (Gardner, Mass.) ranked 17th in the one mile run to earn him a spot at IC4A's. Another solid performance came from came from junior Brian Miller (Foxboro, Mass.) who ranked sixth in the high jump.