After staying in stride with the University of Massachusetts at Lowell sophomore Tim Guerin for most of the men's 5000-meter run at the Stonehill Skyhawk Track and Field Invitational last Saturday, Dan Anastos '11 broke away with three laps to go in the race.Anastos came in first, crossing the finish line nearly 12 seconds before Guerin in 15 minutes, 38.63 seconds.

"[The win] gave me a lot of confidence because [the indoor season] had its ups and downs. Coming out in the first race, it felt really good to get an OK time after the way the race played out. It was a nice, relaxed effort," Anastos said.

While the men's track team only finished 10th out of 12 squads competing and the women's track team finished eighth out of 11, solid individual performances like Anastos' highlighted the Judges' first meet of the outdoor track season.

Prior to the 5000-meter run, coach John Evans told Anastos not to worry about his time in the race, instead advising his rookie runner to follow the lead pack of runners and let them set the race's pace.

"The leaders took it out kind of slow, so [the mentality] was basically just [to] relax and go for the ride," Anastos said. "I was pretty much playing 'follow the leader,' doing whatever they do."

About halfway through the race, Anastos and Guerin pulled away from the pack and paced each other until Anastos broke away with three laps to go. The win is the first of his collegiate career.

"He ran a really smart race; we're looking for big things from him this season," Matt Jennings '09 said.

Jennings, Mike Stone '08 and rookie Ben Bray '11 finished sixth, seventh and eighth, respectively, out of 52 runners in the 1500-meter race. Jennings led with a time of 4:05.96, with Stone and Bray less than a second behind his pace. Ned Crowley '10 finished fourth out of 19 runners in the 400-meter dash in 51.74 seconds.

On the women's side, Desiree Murphy '10 came in third in the discus throw, with a distance of 34.41 meters.

"For me to start at [34 meters] this year is a good sign that I'll be able to build off of that," Murphy said.

Also placing high for the women were Grayce Selig '08, who finished third in the 1500-meter run in 4:53.03, Olivia Alford '08, who came in fourth in the 400-meter dash in 1:00.43, and Marie Lemay '10, who came in fifth in the 800-meter run in 2:22.89.

"As a team we're trying to transition ourselves into an outdoor season. That's always hard for us to do. . When you come out of [indoor track] you have to switch gears a little bit," Murphy said.

"It was a good start for a lot of us. We know what we need to work on."

Both teams head to UMass- Lowell for a meet next Saturday at 10 a.m.