Umass Lowell's Giesing, Doyle impress on Florida track
JACKSONVILLE, FLA. >> Graduate student Izzy Giesing (Bradford, Vt.) and senior Kenzie Doyle (Swansea) of the Umass Lowell women's track and field team competed Thursday at the NCAA East preliminaries.
Giesing ran in the 800-meter run, while Doyle took part in the 10K race.
Giesing hit the track first, picking up a great time of 2:06.01 in the first round of the women's race to earn 13th place overall and third place in her section, automatically advancing to Saturday's quarterfinal, where the top 12 will move onto NCAA Championships.
"Izzy ran an extremely mature race," said head coach Gary Gardner. "She looked controlled the entire way and did exactly what she needed to qualify."
She garnered an America East individual championship in the 1,500 (4:22.73), a victory in the 400 at the Friar Invitational
(55.86) and a thirdplace performance at the Virginia Challenge in the 800 (2:03.81).
Doyle performed extremely well in the 10K, which is her first of two events this week, as she qualified for both the 10K and Saturday's 5K. She crossed the finish line in 33:53.23, collecting seventh-place honors, qualifying for the NCAA Division I Outdoor Championships in Austin, Texas in early June.
"Kenzie ran the best race of her career," said Gardner.
"She closed the last 2,000 meters unbelievably fast and looked like there was still more in the tank. Placing seventh is beyond what we hoped for and she is ready for a great race in two weeks in Texas."
She will now move on to the 5K on Saturday at 8:10 p.m., looking to double qualify. Just over two weeks ago, Doyle set her personal record of 16:00.06 at the Yale Last Chance Meet, so she will be riding some 5K momentum heading into the weekend.