Jumbos Dominate Home Stampede and add 14 DIII Qualifiers

(2/3/2016 9:49 AM) Full Results

This weekend the squad competed in their second home contest of the season as the team hosted the 2016 Tufts Stampede. The meet was filled with some fantastic performances from athletes in every event group.

There were a plethora of Jumbos who earned individual victories in their respective events. Senior Veer Bhalla won the 600m with a facility-record time of 1:20.29. Although Veer posted the fastest 600m time ever at Gantcher, he was just 0.08 seconds off the school record of 1:20.21 set by classmate Mitchell Black last year. Senior Francis Goins got the W in the 400 in a time of 50.37 seconds, and he ran a commendable second place in the 200 in 22.77 seconds. Additionally, freshman Hiroto “Oats” Watanabe finished first in the 800m in 1:58.95, and his senior teammate Michael Curley won the 3000m in 8:37.68. Also, freshman standout Josh Etkind won the 60m hurdles with a time of 8.63 seconds and the 4x400m relay of Goins, first-years Nico Agosti and Anthony Kardonsky, and sophomore Chris Gregory.

On the field side, senior tri-captain Atticus Swett continued to show his strength in the shot put as he placed first in the event with a throw of 14.91m. Sophomore powerhouse Linus Gordon also secured a victory in the long jump with a leap of 6.50m.

There were also a lot of all-time marks that were broken this weekend. Freshmen Tommy Miller (60m), Josh Etkind (60 hurdles), Charlie Pennington (High jump), Ben Wallace (Pole vault), and Colin Raposo (1000m), all earned a spot on the freshman all-time lists for their respective events. In addition the performances of Josh Etkind (60m hurdles), Drew Dimaiti (400m), Veer Bhalla and Drew DiMaiti (600m), Mitchell Black and Veer Bhalla (1000m), Mitchell Black (Mile), Linus Gordon (Long Jump), and Benji Wallace (Pole Vault) were in the top ten of all-time.

Across the river at Boston University, our Distance Medley Relay of freshman Watanabe, sophomore Drew DiMaiti, senior Alex Apostolidis, and junior Luke O’Connor ran a strong early season time of 10:10.09 that ranks among the best in the nation. DiMaiti followed up the following day at BU with a 49.15 in the 400m, good for an indoor PR. A trio of milers joined DiMaiti on the banks and saw senior James Traester notch under 4:20.00 for the first time with a mark of 4:16.07. O’Connor ran 4:18.90, and senior Mitchell Black had the fastest mark of the day with a 4:09.77 to put himself third all time for Jumbos in the mile in his debut at the distance.

Looking ahead, we now have two qualifiers in more than half of the DIII events and freshmen have qualified for DIII’s in the 60 hurdles, 400m, 800m, 1000m, and the triple jump. Overall Tufts won the meet with a total of 212.50 points and next week the team will compete at home again when the team hosts the Tufts Cupid Challenge.



Full Results