Women's Track Prepares For Weekend at New England Championships

Meet Eight	New England Championships
Date \| Time	Friday, May 12, 2017 – Saturday, May 13, 2017 \| 12:00 p.m. / 10:00 a.m.
Location	Williams College (Williamstown, Massachusetts)
Teams Competing	Boston College, Boston University, Brown, Bryant, Central Connecticut, Connecticut, Dartmouth, Fairfield, Hartford, Harvard, Holy Cross, Maine, New Hampshire, Northeastern, Providence, Quinnipiac, Sacred Hard, Rhode Island, UMass Lowell, Vermont, Yale.
Meet Info	Meet Schedule \| Live Results \| Live Webcast

This Weekend's Competition
- This Friday and Saturday, members of the University of Massachusetts women's track and field squad will head to Williamstown, Massachusetts to compete at the New England Championships. The Minutewomen will vie for gold in events they qualified for during the 2017 outdoor track and field season. Competition kicks off 12:00 p.m. on Friday with the heptathlon.
- The following Minutewomen are scheduled to compete: Diamante Spencer (100m, 200m), Lindsay Witt (100m, 200m), Christine Davis (5,000m), Jada Harris (100h, high jump), Gabrielle Bennett (100h), Charlotte Robison (100h, long jump), Samatha Thompson (high jump), Sara Wagner (hammer), Kelsey Crawford (hammer, javelin, shot put), Lucy Belt (javelin), Heather MacLean (800m), Emilie Cowan (800m), Colleen Sands (3,000m steeplechase), Brook Hansel (3,000m steeplechase), Mariah Collins (discus)

Harris Honored
- Freshman Jada Harris was selected Student-Athlete of the Week for May 1-7. Harris won two gold medals at the Atlantic 10 Championships and was tabbed the female Most Outstanding Rookie Performer of the meet. On day one, she took the title in the high jump, clearing 5-7, the No. 4 mark all-time at UMass. On day to, she won the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 14.20.

Last Time Out
-UMass claimed fifth at the Atlantic 10 Championships with a slew of medals contributing to a team score of 93.5 points. In high jump, freshman Jada Harris claiming the A-10 title with a height of 5 feet, 7 inches, good for fourth all-time in program history. Harris also finished first in the 100 meter hurdles final with a time of 14.20 seconds and was named the Most Outstanding Rookie Performer of the meet.
- Redshirt junior Heather MacLean won her first 1,500m Atlantic 10 title, leading the field of 30 competitors across the finish line with a time of 4 minutes, 23.18 seconds. Sophomore Emilie Cowan earned a silver medal in the 400 meter dash with her time of 54.10 seconds and also scored in the 200 meter dash, taking seventh in 24.93 seconds.
- Junior Colleen Sands picked up a silver medal in 3,000 meter steeplechase, crossing the finish line in 10 minutes, 42.33 seconds. Redshirt senior Kelsey Crawford earned silver in javelin with a throw of 140 feet, 3 inches.

Cowan Looks to Build Off Successful Rookie Year
- In 2016, her first collegiate outdoor track season, Emilie Cowan made her way to the UMass record book with a top time in 400m and a fourth all-time performance in the 800m.
- At the outdoor Atlantic 10 Championships, Cowan earned the title of Atlantic 10 Champion in 500 meter dash, finishing with a time of 1:12.95. Cowan returned to the track to earn a second title in 200 meter dash, winning the event with a time of 25.02 seconds
- At the NCAA Preliminary Championships, Cowan ran under 54 seconds in the 400m for the second time in her career and is the only Minutewoman in program history to do so. The Maplewood, N.J., native crossed the finish line in 53.96 seconds, good for 36th in the field of 48 as the time was just shy of breaking her own school record of 53.92
- The Maplewood, New Jersey, native concluded her 2016 outdoor track campaign at the USATF Junior National Championships in Clovis, California where she competed in the 400m. Cowan finished 12th in the prelims with a time of 54.36, narrowly missing an advance to the final.

Welcome Aboard
- UMass has added a talented freshman class to the roster for the 2017 season. The group features six individuals who will compete in jumps for the Minutewomen, three sprinters, two distance and one middle distance runner, one hurdler and one multi-event athlete.
- New additions to the UMass roster debut for outdoor track: Ashley Arroyo (Jumps – Kingston, Mass./Silver Lake Regional HS), Kayla Blair (Mid Distance – Swanzey, N.H./Monadnock HS), Taylor Blow (XC/Distance – Westhampton, Mass./Hampshire Regional HS), Kate Dorsey - (Distance - Glen Ellyn, Ill./Glenbard West HS), Sarah Endyke (Sprints/Jumps - Hingham, Mass./Hingham HS), Jada Harris (Hurdles/Jumps - Trumbull, Conn./Saint Joseph HS), Sophia Holman (Multi - Lunenburg, Mass./Luneneburg HS), Moriah Newcomb (Sprints/Jumps - Brewer, Maine/ Brewer HS), Samantha Thompson (Jumps - Weston Mass./Weston HS) and Lindsay Witt (Jumps/Sprints - Princeton Mass./Wachusett Regional HS)
- Senior Julia Weithofer has joined the track and field program, as well, following the completion of her women's soccer career at UMass where she was a four-year starter for the Minutewomen as a midfielder/defender.

LaFreniere at the Helm
- UMass Head Coach Julie LaFreniere is in her 30th year as head coach of the women's cross country and track and field programs in 2017.
- LaFreniere, a 1977 UMass graduate, has led the Minutewomen to 12 Atlantic 10 Championships (7 Cross Country, 3 Indoor Track, 2 Outdoor Track) during her tenure and is a 12-time Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year.

Scoreboard