Tufts places third at home opener

The men's track and field team started its new season strong at home with a third place finish in the Tufts Winter Invitational. The event, held in Gantcher Center, featured 14 teams. Div. II teams from UMass Lowell (160) and Stonehill (145) finished first and second, respectively, while Tufts finished first out of all Div. III teams with 92 points for third place overall. The Jumbos captured third easily, with Keene State (54) finishing a distant fourth.

The Jumbos were buoyed by junior Veer Bhalla's first place finish in the 600-meter (1:22.77). Bhalla is a returning All-American, along with junior Alex Kasemir (1:24.90), who placed fifth. First-year Peter McCauley (1:25.14) and senior Alex Sheltzer (1:25.79) finished sixth and eighth, respectively, to round out a dominant middle-distance performance for Tufts.

Returning All-American junior Mitchell Black (2:30.23) secured another first place finish for Tufts in the 1000 meter before injuring his foot, while classmate Alex Apostolides (2:36.68) finished eighth.

In his first official race for the Jumbos, first-year Andrew DiMaiti (50.79) won the 400-meter dash, besting Regis University's Jeremy Israel by 0.08 seconds. Yet another returning All-American, junior Francis Goins (51.11), placed third in the 400. The Jumbos entered three 400-meter relay teams and were successful, finishing first, fifth and sixth respectively. Only the first place finish, however, counted toward the Jumbos' composite score. DiMaiti replaced the injured Black as the second-leg runner in the 4 x 400 relay team, which placed first.

"I think I did OK," DiMaiti said.  "I was pretty nervous for it, but it's a very solid squad, so I didn't have too much to worry about."

DiMaiti set a personal record in the 400, but his true goal for the season is to set another personal record in the 400-meter hurdles, which he labeled as his main event.

DiMaiti credits his teammates with helping him adjust to the college competition level. Originally from the Medford area, DiMaiti ran against some of his new teammates in high school, a dynamic that he finds especially amusing considering how friendly everyone on the team is. Goins was seeded higher than DiMaiti and therefore had to run in the first heat against more experienced runners, while DiMaiti ran in the second. DiMaiti believes being in the second heat allowed him to run his race better and without worrying about someone passing him from behind.

In longer events, junior Michael Curley (8:45.86) placed second in the 3000, junior James Traestor (4:27.66) scored fourth in the mile run and senior Nick Guarnaccia (4:28.78) finished sixth in the mile.

In the field events, returning NESCAC champions, senior co-captain Brian Williamson and junior Atticus Swett continued the Jumbos' success on the day. Williamson threw 48'10'' in the shot-put for third place and tossed the weight 47'9" for sixth in that event. Williamson, a reigning two-time NESCAC shot-put champion, said this meet was primarily about the team shaking off the rust from vacation, despite his setting a personal record in the weight throw.

Williamson's hope for this season is that Tufts can three-peat as NESCAC champions.

"I was definitely happy about [setting a personal record (PR)] in weight," Williamson said. "It was maybe not as far as I hoped, but it's a PR so you can't be upset with that. In terms of performances all around on the team, everyone seemed to be pretty close to their PRs, which is great at this point in the season. I don't think there were any earth-shattering performances, but everyone seemed close and primed to go."

Swett heaved 47'1" in the weight throw, scoring eighth for the Jumbos, and was only .14 meters short of Worcester State University's Sam Weeks for eighth place in the shot-put. Junior Ifeoluwa Adebayo (12.85m) just missed placing for Tufts in the weight throw.

Sophomore Pietro Possenti earned fifth place in the pole-vault, clearing 13'7". First-year Linus Gordon long jumped 5.84 meters, good for 11th in his first meet as a Jumbo. Gordon (1.78 m) also placed 12th in the high jump, while junior Bryson Hoover-Hankerson (1.83m) tied for ninth in the high jump.

The Tufts Jumbos, two-year reigning NESCAC champions, will go to the Bowdoin Invitational this weekend to size up against other NESCAC teams.