By Jonathan Moniz, Staff Writer
UMass Dartmouth men’s and women’s track and field ended the regular season and began qualifiers for regional postseason competition at Trinity College in Connecticut. They compete last Saturday, April 22, for the match at Trinity.
The competition was to determine who amongst the track and field teams would compete in the postseason competitions and represent UMass Dartmouth. The Corsairs’ track and field team eight members of the team who became team winners and also qualified for further competition.
First-years Danielle Devine, Caitlyn Demers, and senior Meaghan Shurtleff qualified for the women’s team in Division III outdoor track and field championships, performing to qualify and continue on. Devine finished second place for the 400-meter dash, with a time of 59.67, just below the minute mark and ranking fourth for the history of the program.
Shurtleff took the triple jump, by jumping a distance of 10.61 meters. Surpassing the New England standard, she qualified to continue. The women’s team now had registered three women to continue on for the championship.
The men’s team registered four, with Jared Louf-Woods, a junior, winning at javelin with a distance of 60.24 meters, qualifying for the competiton. With sophomore Joao Baptista earning a height of 1.93 meters, the men’s team now had two going.
For hammer throw, senior Greg Betsold teamed with Louf-Woods to participate in the event, in which they placed fourth at 48.33 meters. Baptista, for the long jump, scored a record of 6.03 meters, earning fourth. Betsold followed behind him, earning fifth with discus by tossing for 37.58 meters.
The men’s team had now qualified four people to compete in the post-season matches and tournaments.
The track and field teams then switched to field sports, starting junior John Kleczkowski taking third place with javelin.
Hunter Carden for the senior women’s, got 2.75 meter in pole vault, which earned her second place. With a pair of finishes amongst the top-ten and winning third in the 200 meter dash, Raybryana Dasher, a senior for the women’s track team, collected sixth for the 100 meter dash.
The ending of these matches paves the way for UMass Dartmouth to continue with the season of track as a whole, registering the skilled players who took home places in this competition to continue forward and represent their schools.
For the first championship match, it will be outdoor at Westfield State. Held on April 29th, the Conference Outdoor Championships will see the men for the title they haven’t earned since 2014, with women hoping to earn it for the first since 1998.