
Recently in Track & Field Category

Massachusetts women's track and field coach Julie LaFreniere received an e-mail in mid-March that perplexed her.
The e-mail, from the academic services within the athletic department, notified her that all women's sophomore track and field athletes could sign up for fall courses.
But on the list was freshman cross country and track and field athlete, Rachel Hilliard.


Happy birthday to Brenden Cavallaro of men's track & field and Leif Sorenson of men's baseball!

Happy birthday wishes to Adam Phillips of UMass hockey and Michelle Jenssen of women's track and field!


Happy birthday to Nicole Pompei of UMass Track & Field!

Happy belated birthday wishes to Ali Houlis of women's lacrosse and football's Igor Garcia! The two celebrated their birthday on August 4. Happy belated birthday to K.R. Jurgelevich of men's lacrosse who celebrated his birthday on August 5! Happy belated birthday to Michael McDonough of men's track! Michael celebrated his birthday on August 6. Happy belated birthday to football's Ryan Carter and field hockey's Nicole Cordero! Both, Ryan and Nicole celebrated their birthday on August 7.






Happy birthday to Sarah Barrett of women's cross country and track & field!

Happy belated birthday to Lindsey Pfau of women's track & field!

Happy birthday to Em Chiu of rowing and Danielle Allocco of women's cross country and track!


Happy birthday to Danielle McNiff of women's cross country & track!

Happy birthday to Sean Duncan of UMass track & cross country!

Kevin and David Johnson went to the 4th of July Road Race Monday gunning for a record.
They got it.
In a competitive field on a humid morning, the 22-year-old twins from Ludlow ran down the course record, with Kevin covering the flat 5K in 15 minutes 11 seconds, and David crossing two seconds later.
The Johnsons said they were going after the course record of 15:15, which was set by former Ludlow High School teammate Brian Fuller in 2009.
"We were joking with Fuller on the phone," David Johnson explained. "He's in Colorado right now, and we were going to take down his course record without him here to defend it. That's what our goal was going into the day.
"With 250 meters to go, I knew we were running a good pace and I wanted to make sure both of us got under the course record. I yelled at Kevin to go and I saw him pick it up a little bit to the finish."
Kevin Johnson said, "We talked to Brian beforehand. He's our friend but he didn't want us to break his record."
David Johnson and Joe Czupryna grabbed the lead at the start before Kevin Johnson grabbed the top spot 1 mile into the fast course.
"We were pretty close," said David Johnson of the early stages of the race. "Me and our other teammate, Joe Czupryna, went through the mile pretty quick - maybe 4:50 pace. I was feeling a little sluggish before the race so I told Kevin I would do a lot of work for him. That worked for about a mile and then I fell back a little bit to Kevin, and then Kevin was pulling the train from 1 mile to the finish."
Even though he had the lead, Kevin Johnson knew he had to keep working. He stayed strong and topped the course record by four seconds.
"It was great. Both Dave and Brian have won the race, but I've never won it," Kevin Johnson said. "We had a bunch of UMass guys come and it was great to run with them again."
Read the full article here.


JOHNSON MAKES ALL-ACADEMIC TEAM: Ludlow's Kevin Johnson, who graduated from the University of Massachusetts in May, was selected to the Capital One All-Academic second team for the second year in a row.
In the spring, Johnson ran the fifth-fastest time in the history of the UMass men's track program in the 10K.
Johnson graduated with a 4.0 GPA. During his career, he was selected to 11 academic-based teams, and was also named the UMass Male Fall Scholar-Athlete in 2009. He'll attend the Dartmouth College Medical School in Hanover, N.H., in September.
Kevin Johnson (17:34) finished two seconds ahead of his twin brother, David, at the Summerfest 3.5 Mile Cross Country Race in Holyoke Sunday.
Read the full column on MassLive.com.




Happy Birthday to Football's Julian Talley, Women's Track & Field's Katherine Finnegan, and Women's Lacrosse's Sarah Mullen!








Dan Barry will be the lone Minuteman in action today as he will run in the fourth heat of the 1500m, which begins at approximately 5 p.m. The top-five per heat will move on to the national quarterfinal on May 28, plus the next four fastest times.
Tomorrow night, Karen Roa and Sean Duncan will be running in the 3,000m Steeplechase. Roa is in the third women's heat with the event set to begin at 8:30 p.m. Duncan will run in the second heat of the men's steeple, which will begin around 9:10 p.m. Top-three per-heat will qualify for the national semifinal on June 8, along with the next three fastest.
Stephanie Aguguo will be competing in the triple jump, which begins at 1 p.m. on Friday. Top-12 in the field will advance to the national final on June 10. She is mentioned in today's Worcester Telegram.
All the meet information can be found on this page on iuhoosiers.com, including live results and live video streams of the running events: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3






Matt Strong of The Daily Collegian has a recap of last weekend's track and field meet, and previews this weekend's UMass Invitational.
"The Minutemen will look to pick up where they left off last weekend, building on a first-place finish at the Yellow Jacket Invitational."
UMass Winter Scholar-Athlete Luncheon - Cerie Mosgrove, Sean Busch. Speeches by Female honoree Cerie Mosgrove (women's basketball), Associate Head Coach Steve Lanpher, Professor Glenn Wong and Track & Field Coach Ken O'Brien. Busch was unable to attend.
The Daily Record has a feature story on UMass women's track and field alumn, Nastaran Whitson, who was recentely named the All Daily Records Girls Indoor Track Coach of the Year for her work with Morris Hills High School . During her time at UMass, Whitson competed in the heptathlon as a multi for the Minutewomen.
Whitson was promoted to head coach of the girls team this year and led the squad to the NJSIAA North 1 Group II state sectional title, the second straight for the Scarlet Knights.




Checkout this notebook blurb about the men's track and field team from over the weekend. Dick Baker from The Springfield Republican highlights the career of Ken O'Brien, and the success of his squad through the 2011 season.
(note: scroll down to middle of the page)
Over the weekend the Minutemen crowned four A-10 Champions.
Checkout Scott Cournoyer's recap of the Giegengack Invitational. The Daily Collegian recaps the two-day event in which both the men and women had a series of strong performances.
"Overall, I was very pleased with the way our team performed, we had some more guys qualify for New England and IC4A events and that's important when thinking about going even further, said coach Ken O'Brien."

Check out Telegram.com's
article on UMass track and field alum Kristin Bakanowski getting hired at
Algonquin Regional High School as an assistant track and field coach. "Danielson's
departure gives former Algonquin and UMass star Kristen Bakanowski an opportunity to fulfill a dream by
coaching at her alma mater. A T&G Super Team pick
in indoor and outdoor track, the 25-year-old Bakanowski set the Algonquin
record in the pole vault (12 feet) and competed on the national stage more than
once before continuing her storied career for the Minutewomen, where she set
their school record at 12 feet, 11-3/4 inches."



Like the United States Postal Service, the UMass indoor track and field team delivers on time, no matter what the weather is.
Wednesday's mammoth nor'easter hardly was a hurdle for the Minutemen as they prepared for this weekend's season-opening Sorlien Memorial Invitational in Kingston, R.I.
Continue reading UMass track set for run at glory














HAPPY BIRTHDAY - JULY 19:
Danielle
McNiff (Cross Country), Darius Velez (Track & Field)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY - July 6
Sean
Duncan (Cross Country/Track & Field)

























