Women's Track & Field Earns Two Medals On Day One Of New England Championships

Roxbury, Mass. – University of Massachusetts women's track and field picked up points in four events and saw two individuals earn bronze medals while advancing eight more out of preliminaries on day one of the New England Championships at the Reggie Lewis Track & Field Center on Friday. Through seven scored events, the Minutewomen sit sixth in the team standings with 15.50 points.

Sophomore Kira Kopec collected bronze in pentathlon with a personal-record score of 3,507 points, good for fifth all-time in program history. She opened the day by taking third in 60 meter hurdles at 9.32 seconds for 844 points, won shot put with a toss of 38 feet, 7.5 inches for 646 points, was third in long jump at 17 feet, 1.25 inches and ran 2 minutes (617 points, 21.63 seconds to fourth in the 800m for 801 points.

UMass scored two in high jump with junior Jada Harris capturing bronze with a leap of 5 feet, 5.25 inches and classmate Samantha Thompson was sixth at 5 feet, 5.25 inches.

The Minutewomen's distance medley relay squad of Alexina Hurley, Colette O'Leary, Samantha Schwers and Catherine Curtin logged a seventh-place finish at 12 minutes, 31.99 seconds.

Both Harris and senior Bridget Deveau moved on to the 60 meter hurdles semifinals. Harris ran 8.56 seconds to the runner up spot in prelims and Deveau was ninth with the fifth fastest time in UMass history, 8.95 seconds.

In 60 meter dash, junior Lindsay Witt improved her program ranking to second all-time at 7.85 seconds, taking seventh in the preliminaries. Junior Danielle Reicherts was 12th with a time of 7.88 seconds. Witt also advanced in 200 meter dash, placing sixth in prelims at 25.16 seconds.

Senior Emilie Cowan posted the fastest time out of the 500 meter dash preliminaries, 1 minutes, 13.38 seconds. Bryanna Rivers qualified for the 800 meter final, taking third in the prelims at 2 minutes, 16.80 seconds. Colette O'Leary moved on in 1,000 meter run, as well, placing fifth in the preliminaries at 2 minutes, 55.09 seconds.

The Minutewomen will conclude their weekend at the New England Championships tomorrow, Feb. 2, with day two action kicking off at 10:30 a.m.

Scoreboard

Women's Track & Field Earns Two Medals On Day One Of New England Championships

Players Mentioned

Emilie Cowan

Catherine Curtin

Bridget Deveau

Jada Harris

Alexina Hurley

Kira Kopec

Colette O'Leary

Danielle Reicherts

Bryanna Rivers

Samantha Schwers

Samantha Thompson

Lindsay Witt

Scoreboard

University of Massachusets Athletics