Pride Set For Season Opener At UMass Boston Indoor Open

WESTON, Mass. - The Regis Men's and Women's track and field teams kick off their indoor season this Saturday at the UMass Boston Open at the Reggie Lewis Center in Roxbury, Massachusetts. This will be the beginning of a new era for Regis track and field under first year head coach, Kourtney Bonsey. Bonsey arrived on campus this summer and guided the women's cross country team to its first ever NECC Cross Country Championship while the men placed runner up at the conference meet. The performances netted Bonsey Coach of the Year honors. Bonsey and her staff, assisted by and Patrick Lahey (Throws) and Kevin Greene (Mid-Distance/Distance) will look to continue this success in the indoor season.

The women will be led by junior captain Kate Cowden (Wilmington, Mass.). Cowden is coming off her best season to date where, last spring, she qualified for the DIII New England Championships in both the shot put and discus. Fellow junior captain, Molly Curtin (Brockton, Mass.), will look to continue her success from this fall, where she was named NECC Runner of the Year after her first place victory in the NECC Cross Country Championships. Curtin will lead the Pride in the distance events this winter. Sophomore Keegan Duguay (Watertown, Mass.), the school recorder holder in multiple hurdle events, will look to continue her success from her rookie campaign last year where she qualified for the DIII New England Champions in both the 60m hurdles and 100m hurdles. Junior Julia Haselhuhn (Carlsbad, Calif.) will lead Regis in the jumping events. Haselhuhn set school records in both the long jump and triple jump last year and qualified for the DIII New England and ECAC Championships. Freshmen Chukwusom Akanegbu (North Easton, Mass.) (Throws), Bernice Boateng (Dayville, Conn.) (Sprints) and Maddie Boucias (Buckland, Mass.) (Mid-Distance/Distance) will look to make an immediate impact for the Pride this winter as well.

The men will be led by senior captain Matt Norton (Weymouth, Mass.). Norton, a multiple time all-conference selection in cross country, will look to continue his improvement in the middle distance events this winter. The multiple event school record holder qualified for the DIII New England Championships in the 600m and 800m events last indoor season. Sophomore Matt Malone (West Roxbury, Mass.) will lead the Pride in the hurdle events this year. Malone is coming off an outstanding rookie campaign that saw him qualify for the DIII New England and ECAC championships. Malone's efforts on the track garnered him Regis Freshman Athlete of the Year honors at the athletic department's end of year banquet. In the circle, sophomore Taylor Garner (Richmond, Vt.) will lead a young throws group. Last year Garner saw steady improvement in the weight throw and hammer throw and just nearly missed advancing to the DIII New England Championships. Fellow sophomore Fred Mathieu (Miami, Fla.) is healthy and geared up to improve from his rookie season and will lead the Pride in the sprints events.

"I'm really excited for this young group to get out there and compete. Both the men and women have been working extremely hard this fall, and now they get a chance to showcase some of that work," said Coach Bonsey. "Our goal this season is to get as many athletes to qualify for the DIII New England Championships and have everyone continue to improve and develop as athletes. UMass Boston will be a good test to see where we are at now, but we know it's a long season and there is still a lot of work to do."

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