Women's Track and Field in Hunt For A-10 Title After Day One

AMHERST, Mass. – University of Massachusetts women's track and field finished day one of the Atlantic 10 Championships within reach of the top spot in the team standings, in third with 42.5 points. The Minutewomen will head into day two's action in tight battle for first as the top four teams are currently separated by just 6.5 points. Through seven scored events, Duquesne is first (48) followed by Dayton (47), UMass and Rhode Island (41.5) with Davidson and George Mason a distant fifth with 20 points apiece.

Two freshmen medaled in high jump for the Minutewomen with freshman Jada Harris claiming the A-10 title with a height of 5 feet, 7 inches, good for fourth all-time in program history. Samantha Thompson collected bronze at 5 feet, seven inches.

Redshirt senior Kelsey Crawford earned silver in javelin with a throw of 140 feet, 3 inches and Lucy Belt picked up sixth with her 129-foot, 7-inch toss.

Junior Colleen Sands picked up a silver medal in 3,000 meter steeplechase, crossing the finish line in 10 minutes, 42.33 seconds.

Harris led the way into Sunday's 100 meter hurdles final, taking first in the preliminaries with a time of 14.24 seconds. Sophomore Gabrielle Bennett advanced, as well, as her time of 14.62 landed her seventh in prelims. Redshirt junior Heather MacLean cruised into the 800 meter run final with the fastest preliminaries time at 2 minutes, 9.19 seconds.

Sophomore Emilie Cowan advanced to Sunday's 400 meter dash final, racing 54.18 seconds to second in preliminaries. She also moved on to the 200 meter dash final with a preliminaries time of 24.50, which was good for fourth.

UMass qualified two for the 100 meter dash final as redshirt junior Diamante Spencer crossed the line in fifth at 12.10 seconds and Lindsay Witt placed eighth at 12.27 seconds. Spencer's time matched the third-fastest in program history and the fastest in the event for a member of the Minutewomen since 2005.

Junior Julia Witt ended day one's heptathlon competition in second place with 2741 points, aided by a runner-up showing in high jump with a leap of 5 feet, 3.25 inches for 747 points and a fifth-place finish in shot put with a throw of 33 feet, 1 inch for 535 points.

Senior Sara Wagner scored in hammer throw with a 167-foot, 2-inch toss that earned her fifth and Kayla Rorke collected points for the Minutewomen in pole vault, clearing 10 feet, eight inches, to place fifth.

UMass will return to action at the UMass Track & Field Complex tomorrow, May 7, with day two's Atlantic 10 Championship action beginning at 10:15 a.m. with heptathlon long jump.

Scoreboard

Women's Track and Field in Hunt For A-10 Title After Day One

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Players Mentioned

Lucy Belt

Gabrielle Bennett

Emilie Cowan

Kelsey Crawford

Jada Harris

Heather MacLean

Kayla Rorke

Colleen Sands

Diamante Spencer

Samantha Thompson

Sara Wagner

Julia Witt

Lindsay Witt

Scoreboard

University of Massachusets Athletics