Bhalla's Nation-Leading 800m Highlights Fantastic Home Meet

(2/9/2016 6:42 AM) Full Results

This past Saturday, the Jumbos competed at their own Cupid Challenge, held at home at the Gantcher Center. While the meet was not scored, it was filled with record-breaking performances by freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior Jumbo athletes alike.

One of the numerous highlights of the day came from senior Veer Bhalla, who won the 800m in a time of 1:52.32. Veer’s time puts him #1 in the nation for that event. Additionally, freshman Josh Etkind broke the school record in the 60m hurdles with a time of 8.49. Josh’s impressive showing is particularly noteworthy due to the fact that he is a first-year who has yet to compete in any championship meets as a Jumbo.

Junior phenom Tim Nichols ran arguably the gutsiest race of the day, winning the 5000m in 14:34.05, the third fastest time in the nation. Tim’s classmate Luke O’Connor also ran very well in the 3000m, emerging victorious in a time of 8:25.99, and narrowly missing the school record of 8:24.24 held by Dave Patterson. Senior James Traester was not far behind as he notched a huge 12-second flat track PR of 8:28.40 to finish third in the 3000m race.

On the sprints side, there were some more fantastic performances. Senior Bryson Hoover-Hankerson and junior Nick Usoff both took third place in their respective events as Bryson ran 7.29 in the 60m dash and Nick ran 1:23.97 in the 600m.

The throwers also had quite a strong showing. Seniors Ife Adebayo, Michael Paloian, and Atticus Swett went 2-3-5 in the weight throw, with throws of 14.54 meters, 14.48 meters, and 13.94 meters. Additionally, Atticus won the shot put with a throw of 14.83 meters.

So far this season, a plethora of Jumbos have earned spots on top all-time lists in their respective events. Sophomore Linus Gordon is #10 all-time in the long jump (6.68 m), freshman Benji Wallace is #8 in the pole vault (4.30 m), sophomore Peter Clark, junior Blake Coolidge, and freshman Tommy Miller are #2, #3, and #8 in the 60m dash. First-years Josh Etkind and Henry Hintermeister are #2 and #9 in the 60m high hurdles. Senior Veer Bhalla and sophomore Drew DiMaiti are #2 and #8 in the 600m. Senior Mitch Black is #1 in the 1000m and #4 in the mile. Junior Luke O’Connor and senior James Traester are #2 and #4 in the 3000m. Tim Nichols is #4 in the 5000m, and juniors Tom Wang and Pietro Possenti are #5 and #6 in the Heptathalon.

As the DIII New England Championship Meet approaches, we are excited to add new qualifiers at our home meet in the weight throw, 60m, 00m, 800m, 1000m, mile, 3000m, and 5000m. The insane level of depth that the team has already exemplified is something that makes this year’s team quite unique. This season is shaping up to be one for the history books and the squad is very much looking forward to improving upon some of their already stellar marks. Next weekend, the team will be split as some athletes will be competing at the David Hemery Invitational at Boston University and others will be racing at MIT.


Full Results