University of Massachusets Athletics
Minutemen in Action at John Thomas Terrier Classic Saturday
January 28, 2016 | Men's Track & Field
|
John Thomas Terrier Classic
|
||
|
Date
|
Saturday, Jan. 30, 2016 - 10:30 a.m.
|
|
|
Location
|
Boston, Mass.
|
|
|
Teams
|
BU, Yale, Virginia, RIT, Harvard, Dartmouth, Marist, Brown, Amherst, MIT, Fordham, Northeastern, Stony Brook, Oneonta, Rider, Stonehill, Williams, Sacred Heart, among others
|
|
|
Meet Info
|
Live Results | Video | Schedule of Events
|
|
Friday's Competition
-This Saturday the Minutemen are in action at the John Thomas Terrier Classic. Hosted by Boston University, the men’s portion of the two-day meet will begin at 10:30 a.m. with the long jump. UMass enters the weekend following a string of successful showings to start the 2016 indoor campaign. Last weekend saw a program top-five mark set in high jump while the week before the Minutemen took home victory at the Beantown Challenge.
Last Time Out
-The Minutemen compiled 45 points to take seventh at the Joe Donahue Games last Saturday, aided by freshman Cole Acoveno’s third-place finish in high jump which set the fourth all-time UMass program mark at 6 feet, 8 inches.
- The distance medley squad of Kevin Rooke, Cory Thomas, Timothy Buckley and Adam Selsman nabbed second place with a 10-minute, 16.49-second finish.
- Also posting a runner-up performance, Russell Wells ran a time of 2 minutes, 31.75 seconds in the 1,000m.
Beantown Challenge
- UMass placed first at the Beantown Challenge on Jan. 16 with 155 points, led by Jonathan Derolus’ first-place finish in the 60 meter dash which set the fourth-fastest time in program history.
- Nathan Adeyami enjoyed victory in the triple jump, his 45 foot, 7-inch leap was enough to take home gold and qualify for both the New England and IC4A Championships.
- Russell Wells claimed first in the 800 meter run at 1 minute, 56.35-seconds.
- John Chuma’s second-place showing in pole vault improved his standing in the UMass record book to tie for third all-time at 15 feet, 9-inches. The performance qualified Chuma for the New England and IC4A Championships.
URI Heptathlon
- Kris Horn set a program record at the two-day URI Heptathlon last Friday. Horn finished second with 4,922 points, surpassing teammate Nick Ingham’s previous record of 4,731 set in 2014.
- Horn’s IC4A-qualifying height of 6 feet, 8.25-inches was enough to win long jump and was third all-time in UMass history.
- Nick Ingham took seventh in the field of ten with 4,546 points. He won the 1,000 meter run with a time of 3 minutes, 0.53-seconds.
Weekly Honors For Derolus and Horn
- Kris Horn andJonathan Derolus were been selected as the co-recipients of this week's UMass Student-Athlete of the Week accolade on Tuesday, Jan. 19.
- At the Beantown Challenge, Derolus won the 60 meter dash with a 6.92-second performance, the fourth-fastest time in program history. The mark qualified him for the New England and IC4A Championships, as well, and also earned him an Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Week nod.
- Horn set a program record last Friday to pace four Minutemen who were in action at the two-day URI Heptathlon in Kingston, R.I. The Pembroke, Mass., native finished second overall with 4,922 points, surpassing teammate Nick Ingham's previous UMass record of 4,731, set in 2014. Horn also cleared an IC4A-qualifying height of 6 feet, 8.25 inches to win the high jump, good for third all-time in UMass history.
Yale Invitational
- Sophomore pole vaulter John Chuma tied the fourth all-time UMass program mark, set by Wes Shaw in 2002, with a 15 foot, 3.00-inch jump at the Yale Invitational. The performance qualified him for the New England Championship.
- Jay McMahon nabbed third in the 1,000 meter run, clocking in at 2 minutes, 34.53 seconds. McMahon also earned a third-place finish in the mile run, crossing the line in 4:22.05.
- Freshman Brian Gendron had a successful indoor track debut as he was fourth in the 800 meter run at 1:56.32 and Stephen Ness was right behind in fifth, running 1:57.26.
- The UMass distance medley finished fourth at 10:19.77.
Welcome Back
- The UMass men's track and field program enters the 2016 indoor season with nearly 40 returning veterans and 26 newcomers, including many key contributors from a successful 2014-15 campaign.
-Last year, Michael McNaughton ran a time of 1:52.50 to break a 27-year-old school record set by Bill Stewart in 1988 (1:52.58). McNaughton returns for his senior year with the program and is set to compete on Saturday.
- The Minutemen's distance medley relay, consisting of McNaughton, Peter Farlow, Stephen Ness, and Cory Thomas took home fourth place at the 2015 New England Championship. Their time broke the old second place program mark of 9 minutes, 52.2-seconds set in 1975. McNaugton, Ness and Thomas all return for 2015.
- UMass's 4x800 relay team set a fourth place all-time UMass program mark atthe New England Championships in 2015. McNaughton, Ness, Finestone and Benjamin Groleau ran a combined time of 7 minutes, 37.65-seconds. The entire group returns for 2016.
New Additions
- The Minutemen's 2015-16 indoor track campaign will see many of the squad's 26 newcomers competing in a UMass uniform for the first time. The newest talent members of the University of Massachusetts' men's track and field program include: Cole Acoveno, Nathan Adeyemi, Timothy Buckley, Warren Charleston, Jonathan Collins,Jake DeGrace, Brian Gendron, Kyle Guzman, Andrew Hanwell, Dean Jenssen, Evan King, Zabih Kotecha, John Long, Benjamin Murphy, Chiedozie Onwuka, Jehovangi Pierre,, Jude Pierre, Kevin Rooke, Ari Silverfine, , Jordan Washington, Eric Waterman and Connor Williams.
- Williams is a former UMass men's soccer defender who played for the Minutemen as a freshman. Kevin Rooke is a graduate student transfer from Alaska Anchorage.
Coach O'Brien At The Helm
- Ken O'Brien is in his 49th year as head coach of the UMass men's track and field and cross country programs. He is just the fourth head coach of track and field in the school's 111-year history of the sport that dates back to 1897.
- In O'Brien's 49 seasons coaching cross country and track and field at UMass, the Minutemen have won 19 conference titles (Yankee, Atlantic 10 and Eastern), four New England crowns, two IC4A titles and have had seven All-America performers.
-In 1999, O'Brien was named NCAA District 1 Track and Field Coach of the Year for the second consecutive season, and the fourth time he has won the award in track and field.
