UMPI competes in first track meet in school history

6 years ago

CANTON, New York — After having their first scheduled meet postponed due to weather, the University of Maine at Presque Isle track team members were able to participate in the school’s first-ever track and field meet Saturday at St. Lawrence University.

The highlight was the effort of the 4×100-meter men’s relay team, which placed second out of five teams with a time of 46.42 seconds to score eight of the team’s 15 points in the meet. The Owls’ foursome included Travis Simpson, Jahvion Lockridge, Paul Kaplan and Chris Udobe.

Other results for the men included Lockridge in the 100 with a time of 12.13 seconds and in the long jump with a mark of 18 feet, 11-3/4 inches; Udobe in the 200 in 23.62 and in the 400 in 54.88; Kyle Davis in the 800 in 2:32; Andrew Hunt in the 5,000 in 19:17; Kaplan in the triple jump with a mark of 37 feet, 4-1/2 inches and the discus at 95 feet; and Sam Carpenter in the shot put at 37 feet, 4-1/2 inches.

Other Owls competing in the inaugural meet were Mike Guerrette in the 100 and 400, Allen Stanback in the 100, 200 and shot put; Matthew Payan in the 200, 400 and long jump; Adam Mohamed in the 800 and Andy Tapia in the shot put and discus.

On the women’s side, Jennie Sanborn competed in both the 100 and the 200. She raced to a time of 20.04 seconds in the 100 and 45.24 seconds in the 200. Chenoa Jackson recorded a time of 6:35 in the 1,500 and 3:27 in the 800.

The Owls’ head coach, Chris Smith, was pleased with the team’s effort and said the team should shake off its rust in upcoming meets.

“Next week’s meets at Regis College and Fitchburg State University will really show us where we are once we get some kinks worked out,” Smith said. “This being the first time outdoors for the whole group, along with the collegiate atmosphere, we find we need to adjust a bit and we’ll certainly work to alleviate some of this for next week.”

Sprints and relays coach Terry Gaitor echoed Smith’s comments.

“We have many things to work on,” Gaitor said. “This includes individual techniques as well as team skills, but we can see where we are and we’ll go from here.”

UMPI is at Weston, Massachusetts, Friday for a 2:30 p.m. meet hosted by Regis College and then on Saturday the team makes the trip to Fitchburg, Massachusetts, for another competition.