LOWELL, Mass. – Aidan Law and Keely Giordano each broke school records at the River Hawk Invitational this weekend as the Keene State College indoor track and field teams competed at both the University of Massachusetts Lowell and the University of Southern Maine on Friday and Saturday.

After already breaking the KSC indoor school record in the 200 meter dash and being a part of the relay team that set a new best mark in the 4 x 200, Law added a record finish in the 400 meter dash to his indoor season ledger, finishing in 49.80 at UMass Lowell to break Eric Dietz (2015) and Clinton Mungeta's (2019) marks of 50.1.  It was good for a 19th place out of 48 in the event, though he was second among Division III entrants, behind only 15th-place Kristian Praizner of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (49.34).

Also at the River Hawk Invitational, which featured teams across all three divisions, freshman Sean Von Ranson finished his first running of the 400-meter dash in 51.58, good for sixth in the open event that saw three from Division I Boston College finish in the top five (two juniors, one sophomore) and another from Division II Assumption College.  Keith O'Donnell also finished in the top half among the 40 participants in the event, finishing in 52.22.  Tyler Bolaske was sixth among Division III finishers in the mile, finishing in 4:29.33, setting a new personal record by besting his time at the Little East indoor championships from last year by a nearly a second.  Freshman Ben Tetu bettered his time in the 3,000 meters by over 13 seconds from his running at the Dartmouth Relays two weeks ago, finishing in 8:59.49.  Griffin Urnezis clocked in at 9:01.41 in the same event.  Rookie Jayden Baker threw the shot put 14.10 meters, placing 12th among 43 competitors.  Kyle Thomas finished in 22.44 at the invitational section of the 200 meter dash.

Giordano helped the Owl women break their first school record of the indoor season, finishing the 200 meter dash in 26.43 to eclipse Nicole De Almeida's finish of 26.65 in 2019.  The mark was .58 seconds faster than her previous best at the Beacon Season Opener on December 8 in Boston and 1.38 seconds better than her first collegiate running of the event the day before that.  Anna O'Reilly notched a PR in the 3,000 meters in 10:47.60, just behind teammate Maggie St. John (10:46.39).

At the USM Husky Invitational on Saturday in Gorham, Thomas placed second in the 55 meters in 6.56 after running the preliminary race in 6.53.  The host Huskies' Ethan Shain took the event at 6.48.  Maddox Cahill of USM won the 400 meters (51.18), with KSC's Eric Carlo finishing seventh in 54.32.  Freshman Nicholas Terranova improved on his 800 meter time from a week ago, clocking in at 2:02.43 for a second place finish (.17 behind Plymouth State University junior Josh Rebello).  Jake Velazquez scored in the mile, coming in second in 4:26.29 behind Franklin Pierce University's Ryan Outerbridge (4:23.13).  Tetu added a seventh place finish in that race at 4:35.32.

Senior Marty Nelligan won the 5,000 meter race in 17:24.29, and KSC's Distance Medley Relay group of Tetu, Von Ranson, Terranova, and Velazquez took home a win in 10:55.67.  Dawson Hamele won the high jump with a mark of 1.78 meters and Eden Damis won the triple jump in 13.93 meters, .9 better than the second place finisher.

On the women's side, Autumn Boisvert won the mile in 5:42.37, edging Thomas College's Savaughn Kungxat-Facenda.  Kallie Warner (19:06.23) and Sara Christian (19:21.94) were one and two in the 5,000 meters to score a combined 18 points for KSC in the team standings, while Ava Fortin was runner-up in the 3,000 meters, just .09 seconds behind Rose Connolly (Assumption University).  Bryn Dickinson placed third in the 600 meters (1:48.41) and Rita Cummings was eighth in the 800 meters (2:41.48).  Molly Lu McKellar added a third place personal record time in the 55 hurdles (8.71), and KSC's women's DMR of Aurora Couto, Cummings, Erin Cole, and Boisvert was second in 14:10.52.  PSU's foursome of Abby Marston, Haley Greenwood, Abby Snow, and Rose Karow coasted to a win in 13:34.76 in the event.  The Owls had two scorers in the long jump, with Drea Defreitas winning the event by leaping 5.06 meters.  McKellar posted a 4.89 meter mark, good for sixth.  Caroline Cooper tied for fifth in the triple jump (9.92 meters).

"We had a good weekend with two school records, many PRs, and a couple of event wins.  We are in mid-season form and ready to sharpen over the next few weeks to get ready for the postseason," said KSC head coach Dan Roark.

The Owl women finished second as a team (of 13) with 78.5 points at USM (the host Huskies had 93) and the men were fifth of 11 entrants with 64 points.

As for national marks, the KSC men's DMR time is 20th nationally and Damis' triple jump of 13.93 meters is tied for 30th.

The Owls travel to Boston University for the John Thomas Terrier Classic and to Plymouth State University next Saturday (February 1).