PRIDE PLACES WELL AT MIT INVITATIONAL

WESTON, Mass.- WESTON, Mass.- Enjoying warm temperatures and their end of the season taper, the Regis College outdoor track & field team competed at the MIT Co-Ed Invitational. The meet produced new personal bests for athletes, as well as two individual qualifying marks for the New England Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championship.

The Meet started with the Pride's distance runners performing well on the track. Owen McQuaid (Marlborough, Mass.) and Sarah Schow (Northborough, Mass.) fine-tuned their speeds by participating in the 1500-meter run. Both athletes pushed hard and managed to tie their personal bests set only a few weeks ago; and appear to be on the verge of an excellent 3,000-meter race that awaits them in their final meet.

Regis continued to excel at the meet and moved onto the quarter-mile events. Freshmen Jeremy Israel (Medfield, Mass.) and Chandler Davies (Hartford, Conn.) represented the team exceptionally well. Both men posted fast times in the quarter mile heat. Israel's time of 50.97 seconds broke his outdoor-school record of 51.26s set earlier in the year, earned him a 5th place finish (of 26 athletes), and also qualified him for the DIII Outdoor New England Championships. Meanwhile, Davies' mark of 51.37s was a huge personal best and only .13s from qualifying for New England's as well. The freshman won his heat and placed 8th in the event.

Both sprinters rebounded back for the 200-meter dash. Davies won his heat within this event as well, finishing with another personal best, this time with a mark of 23.25 seconds, good enough to place him 15th (out of 53 athletes) in the meet. He was followed very closely by Ryan Manning (Hanover, Mass.) who won his heat with a time of 23.34s (a personal best as well), placing him 20th. Joining Manning in the 200 were Carlos Romer (Boston, Mass.), Alex Tran (Lawrence, Mass.), and Emmanuel Wani (Cheverus, Maine). All three teammates came close to their season bests, and all doubled within the 100-meter dash.

In the 100-m event, Manning led the squad with a 11.68s race, which stands as the 3rd fastest performance in the event in Regis history behind Adam Heathman (11.57s) and Davies (11.67s). Romer and Wani set new personal bests in the event, each dropping a tenth of a second from their previous times. Tran ran well allowing him to tie his all-time personal record. On the women's side co-captain Anyah Hernandez (Brookline, Mass.) tied her season best of 14.21s, while fellow captain Katherine Warner (Shrewsbury, Mass.) posted her best mark of the season.

For the field events, freshman Paul Gionfriddo (Burlington, Conn.) finished with a mark of 12.02meters, placing 10th out of 19 athletes. Vaulter Tori Rapsis (Nashua, N.H.) tied her season best of 9' 6 ¼", a mark good enough to qualify her for DIII New Englands as well.

The team will compete in their final regular-season meet of the year on Sunday, April 29th at the Regis College Pride Classic. The first event will start at 10am on the Regis College Outdoor Track Complex.

Full results are available at: http://mitathletics.com/sports/w-track/2011-12/files/TF_SpringInvite_042112.htm