Tufts turns in strong performance at Ellis Oval

The Tufts men’s track and field team hosted a quad-meet with MIT, Bates and RPI at Dussault Track on Saturday.The Jumbos kept up their strong early-season form, winning a total of six events and finishing second overall.

Junior Anthony Kardonsky won the 100-meter dash for Tufts.The Tenafly, N.J. native ran the event in 10.89 seconds, a time that is currently tied for 25th in Div. III. The Jumbos had several dominant showings in the event, as junior Tommy Miller (11.16 seconds) and first-year OJ Armstrong (11.18 seconds) placed second and third, respectively.

Senior co-captain Drew DiMaiti also secured a first-place finish, running the 400-meter dash in a time of 49.54 seconds. While his time won the race, the Medford, Mass. native was not able to top his season-best time of 48.46 seconds (recorded at last month's Ross and Sharon Irwin Collegiate Scoring Meet), which is currently ranked sixth in the nation.

Junior Josh Etkind kept up the Jumbos' success by taking first in the 110-meter hurdles.Etkind, who won the event at last year's NESCAC Championships, finished with a time of 14.96 seconds on Saturday, just edging out MIT senior Chris Sweeney (15.03 seconds).

Junior Hiroto Watanabe won the 800 meters with a time of 1:56.06, beating RPI junior Frank Sinapi by almost an entire second. The Tufts 4x100-meter relay team, which consisted of junior Brandon Levenstein, Kardonsky, Miller and Armstrong, rounded out the hosts' success on the track by capturing first place in the event with a time of 43.06 seconds.

Tufts' field athletes similarly shined inside Ellis Oval. After winning the event at the Snowflake Classic on March 31, sophomore Kevin Quisumbing maintained his momentum in the shot put with a first-place throw of 14.96 meters.Junior Ben Wallace posted a 4.40-meter leap in the pole vault to capture second place. Wallace's mark is currently tied for 42nd in the national rankings. To round out Tufts’ success at the meet, first-year Matthew Manteiga placed second in the long jump with a mark of 6.62 meters — tied for 44th in the country.

The Jumbos accumulated a total of 172 team points from their six first-place finishes and numerous other strong results to finish second among the four teams at the meet.They were edged out by the RPI Engineers, who earned a total of 175 points. The result was just the latest in the Jumbos' recent stretch of good form, which has included a pair of meets in San Diego, Calif. and the Snowflake Classic.

"We are very happy about the way we have performed during the last few weeks," DiMaiti said. "Everyone is excited to get into championship season, and we are confident going into the NESCAC championship in two weeks."

Tufts coach Joel Williams echoed DiMaiti's sentiments.

"Overall, we had a great weekend," Williams said. "I try to use every regular-season meet as a building block toward our NESCAC, [Div. III] New England and NCAA performances. We never focus on, or worry about, other teams and what they bring to the table — we stay focused on our jobs. Our goal for every meet is to get qualifiers, improve seed times and tune up on the technical aspects. As they always do, the guys took care of business."

Tufts has been gaining a lot of momentum early in the season due to the strong results, which Williams attributes to the team's dedication.

"Each season, we come in with a set of team goals, and we don’t worry about meet scores or places relative to other teams until championship season," he said. "We try to control what we can and improve what we do, and as long as we continue to work hard and stay focused on those goals, we will continue to be successful.”

The team will travel to Conn. College for a two-day meet this weekend — one of three events it has scheduled before the NESCAC Championships on April 28.

"I anticipate a great weekend at Conn.," Williams said. "For the most part, our heavy hitters are doing their final tune-ups in preparation for championship season. The guys really love the Conn. Invite, and since we didn’t go last year, they are very eager to get back. Friday night’s distance carnival provides a unique environment where it is really fast distance runners, and then on Saturday, we usually get pretty optimal conditions for sprints, jumps and throws. It's a bit rare to get a meet that sets up nicely for all four disciplines."