In an early-season tune-up for the University Athletic Association championships, the outdoor track teams looked to be in mid-season form, overcoming adverse conditions to post a bevy of impressive individual finishes at the George Davis Invitational Saturday at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell. It was only the team's second competition of the season.The women's team was led by first-place finishes from Desiree Murphy '10 in the discus throw and Ali Sax '09 in the triple jump, while the men were paced by a second-place finish by Matt Jennings '09 in the 800-meter run.

While most team members participated in only one event at the meet, many will be called on to take part in multiple events at next weekend's UAA championships in Atlanta.

Despite the unusually raw April weather, Murphy finished first in the discus throw with a distance of 35.87 meters, a seven-meter improvement from her first attempt of the season. The breakout performance leaves Murphy with high expectations heading into next weekend's UAAs.

"I expect to go out there and beat [35.87 meters]," Murphy said. "This is the bench mark."

Sax continued her overall dominance in the indoor track season with the triple jump, taking first place with an 11.04-meter leap, her third-best personal jump.

"I was really happy with the way I jumped," Sax said. "The cold weather was pretty rough."

In her first race of the season, Meaghan Casey '09 excelled in the 800-meter run, finishing second in a time of 2 minutes, 17.22 seconds behind only Tufts University All-American junior Catherine Beck.

"It was encouraging to [keep up] with [Beck]," Casey said.

The trio of Megan Bisceglia '07, Camille Steven-Rumann '07 and Beth Pisarik '10 came in fifth, sixth and seventh, respectively, in the 1,500-meter run.

"We were looking to shake out to get ready for UAAs," Stevens-Rumann said.

Katy Agule '09 finished fourth in the 3,000-meter run and rookie Ally Connolly '10 also was fourth in the 5,000-meter run.

Much like the women's team, the men's team dominated the 1,500-meter run, as Jennings led the way with a second-place finish in 4:04.55, while Joel Sunshine '07 came in third and Dan Suher '08 was sixth.

Despite battling hamstring problems, Mark Bercy '07 finished third in the 200-meter dash with a time of 22.62 seconds and was also sixth in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 16.13.

"Mark was running really well," coach Mark Reytblat said. "He should be one of the top [performers] at UAAs."

Capping off his solid all-around meet, Bercy teamed with Pat Gregoire '09, Frank Longo '08 and Ralph Chery '07 to place fourth in the 4 x 100 meter relay.

Brian McDonald '10 came in eighth in the two-mile run with a time of 9:33.93. After battling injuries since his sophomore year, Peter Vigneron '07 made some progress on the road to recovery, finishing 21st.