University of Massachusets Athletics
University of Massachusetts
John Thomas Terrier Classic
Minutewomen Rewrite Record Book at John Thomas Terrier Classic
January 29, 2016 | Women's Track & Field
BOSTON - University of Massachusetts women's track and field is celebrating a successful trip to the John Thomas Terrier Classic on Friday as the squad saw three program records fall and a total of six new entries into the program's top-five all-time lists. Junior Heather MacLean smashed a 20-year-old UMass program record in the 1 mile run, beating the previous record by 9.5 seconds. Freshman Jada Lofgren-Anderson took down an 18-year-old school record in the 200 meter run and senior Kelsey Crawford set a new program record in shot put at 45 feet, 9.75 inches.
In her first time competing in the event, MacLean earned a fourth-place finish in the mile run and broke a record set by UMass Hall of Famer Rebecca Donaghue in 1996. The Peabody, Mass., native's time of 4:40.57 was enough to qualify for New England and the ECAC Championships, and currently ranks in the top-10 nationally, as well.
Lofgren-Anderson's performance in the 200 meter run topped Shelanda Irish's 1998 mark of 25.14 seconds. Lofgren-Anderson's 25.09-second run landed her 32nd in a field of 189 competitors and met the New England qualifying standard.
After setting a personal record in the shot put with the No. 4 throw in program history last week at the Joe Donahue Indoor Games, Crawford topped the UMass program record with a 45-foot, 9.75-inch throw. Her performance beat out the previous record holder Lisa Wilson's 2010 performance by eight inches and was an ECAC-qualifying mark. Margaret Riseborough was 13th at 39 feet, 7.25 inches and improved her No. 4 UMass all-time mark in the weight throw, taking 22nd with a distance of 47 feet, 0.25 inches.
A UMass 4x400 meter relay team comprised of four freshmen ran the second fastest time in program history on Friday. Caroline Leung, Melissa Beaupre, Olivia Weir and Emilie Cowan ran 3 minutes, 50.67 seconds to set the second all-time UMass program mark, just 0.08 seconds shy of matching the school record.
Cowan continued her string of etching her name in the UMass record books as her time of 2 minutes, 12.20-seconds in the 800 meter run set the third all-time program mark and was enough to qualify for New England and the ECAC Championship while taking 19th at the meet.
Gabrielle Bennett was 10th in 60 meter hurdles with an 8.93-second run and was also in action in high jump, taking 12th at 5 feet, 3 inches.
UMass returns to the track on Saturday, Feb. 6 for the Coaches Invitational at the University of Rhode Island. Competition is set to kick off 11:00 a.m. in Kingston, R.I.
