Jumbos Notch PRs, Multiple Victories at Bowdoin
(1/29/2014 8:35 AM) Full ResultsThe men’s track and field team took their talents up to Brunswick, ME this past weekend to take on 5 other schools in the northeast at the annual Bowdoin Invitational. The Jumbos placed 2nd to Bowdoin with a score of 157 to the host’s 174.
Bryson Hoover-Hankerson ’16 got the day started for the Jumbos with a big PR in the 60 meter hurdles. His time of 7.23 seconds was good enough for second in the competition (he was edged only be a few thousandths of a second), placing him ever closer to the school record of 7.15 seconds. Pietro Possenti ’17 added another top 8 finish for the Jumbos with his 7th place finish with a time of 7.44 seconds. Tom Wang ’17 was the first Jumbo finisher in the 60 meter hurdles, finishing third with a time of 9.02 seconds. Dan Camilletti ’17 (5th), Henry Zhou ’17 (6th), and Nick Usoff ’17 (7th) continued the freshman Jumbo onslaught in the 60 meter hurdles, finishing with times of 9.20 seconds, 9.40 seconds, and 9.43 seconds respectively. Max Levitin ’14 added 2 more points in the sprints to the Jumbos’ score with his 5th place finish in the 400 meters (53.21 seconds). To conclude the meet, the men’s 4x400 team placed 4th, as Usoff, Zhou, Ben Sack ’17, and Levitin ran to a 3:34.77 time.
As usual, the Jumbos had a strong presence in the mid-distance events. Veer Bhalla ’16 earned himself a tank top for winning the 600 meters with a time of 1:23.56, a very solid time this early in the season for the 1:53 800 meter runner. Dave Rose ’17 added another point for the Jumbos by placing 6th in the same event. His strong start paid off, as he went under 1:30 and ran 1:29.17. In the 1000 meters, the Jumbos again had at least 3 scorers for the second straight week, as Alex Apostolides ’16, who battled sickness recently, finished 3rd for the Jumbos, running 2:35.64 in his first track race of the season. Not too far behind, Bobby McShane ’14 finished strong after a solid 2:01 first 800 meters, running 2:36.49 for 4th place. James Traester ’16 also scored for the Jumbos with a new PR of 2:37.34 for 6th place.
In the longer distance events, the Jumbos, many in their first races of the season, competed very well. Luke O’Connor ’17 led the mile for over 1200 meters over All-American miler Coby Horowitz from Bowdoin, running to a strong 4:25.60 time for 5th place in his first track race as a Jumbo. Marshall Pagano ’15 finished a few seconds behind in 7th, running 4:29.23. The Jumbos later had three more scorers in the 3000 meter run, as Tim Nichols ’17 notched his first career win in his first career track race as a Jumbo. Nichols paced the field to sub 9 times by running 8:51.94. Mike Curley ’16 rebounded strongly from last week by breaking 9 minutes in running 8:59.47 for 3rd. Liam Cassidy ’14 finished with Curley, placing 4th by running 8:59.48. The Jumbo 4x800 quartet of O’Connor, Bhalla, McShane, and Pagano finished 2nd in the competition, breaking 8:10 and running a solid early season 8:09.64.
Hoover-Hankerson later dominated the high jump, placing first with a leap of 1.88 meters. Jarad Asselin ’17 and Wang finished 4th and 5th respectively in the same competition, both jumping 1.78 meters. The men again dominated the long jump, as Andrew Osborne ’14 took the W in the competition, by leaping out to 6.33 meters. Allan Yau ’15 took 2nd just behind Osborne, jumping 6.28 meters into the pit. Hoover-Hankerson even added a 4th place jump in this competition to close out a solid day for him by jumping 6.19 meters. Asselin later returned in the triple jump to place 2nd with a jump of 12.85 meters.
Perhaps one of the more exciting events of the day was in the throwing events. The men’s shot put began in the finale of the meet, as Tufts was still in striking range of matching Bowdoin’s score. Although the Jumbos were unable to pull out the victory in the meet, Brian Williamson ’15 took the shot put by heaving the ball 15.10 meters. His teammate, Atticus Swett ’16 finished right behind Williamson with a 14.33 meter heave, cementing the two as one of the best thrower duos in the NESCAC. Swett later returned to take 2nd in the weight throw as well, throwing the weight 15.05 meters. Williamson took 5th in the same competition with his 12.44 meter throw.
Although this meet may be the smallest the Jumbos may attend this season, it definitely had an impeccable impact. Many solid early season performances came out from this meet for some, and for others, the meet was a learning experience for future performances. The Jumbos will next compete this weekend at the annual Tufts Stampede Invitational, where they will hope to qualify more runners for DIII New Englands and ECACs.
Full Results