Track and field teams successful at BU, MIT meets

The women’s and men’s track and field teams competed at Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) Gordon Kelly Invitational and Boston University’s (BU) David Hemery Valentine Invitational over the weekend, earning several Div. III top-50 nationally ranked marks.

At the Gordon Kelly Invitational on Saturday, both teams saw successes from first-year and sophomore athletes in particular.

On the women’s side, sophomore Rachel Eaglin placed second in the 60 meters hurdles with a time of 9.47, while senior co-captain Nehalem Kunkle-Read placed sixth in the 400 meters at 1:05.02. In the field events, sophomore Chidiebele Ikpeazu placed fifth in the high jump at 4’ 11 ½”, first-year Maya Ansbro came in fifth place in the pole vault with a personal best 9’ 11 ¼”, first-year Lia Rotti earned second in the long jump with a personal best distance of 17’ 10 ¼” and first-year Jaidyn Appel placed fourth in the triple jump at 35’ 3”, also a personal record. Rotti’s mark currently ranks No. 36 nationally in Div. III.

The men’s team also had first-years place well: Carter Rosewell placed fourth in the 60 meters with a time of 7.32, Sawyer Wilson won the 600 meters with a personal best of 1:26.97, Oliver Printy finished the mile with a fifth place time of 4:51.63 and Hunter Farrell came in fourth place in the pole vault at 13’ 11 ¼”. In other field events, senior Ranjit Thomas placed third in the triple jump with a personal record distance of 41’ 10 ¾” and junior Dylan Daisey placed sixth in the weight throw with a personal record 50’ 2”, with senior Christian Trebisacci not far behind with an eighth place 48’ 5 ½” mark.

"To have a meet like MIT where you can go and kind of shine in your races builds a lot of confidence," junior co-captain Harry Steinberg said. "To see those guys run and compete well was really exciting. "

The David Hemery Valentine Invite was a much larger and more competitive meet, with Div. I, Div. II and Div. III athletes from across the nation competing. The women's team competed on Friday, while the men's team competed on Saturday. Regardless of the stiff competition, the Jumbos still impressed with several nationally ranked times and personal records as well as a new school record.

Senior Matt D’Anieri undoubtedly put up the most exciting results of the day, setting a new Tufts record in the 1,000 meters. His time of 2:27.45 was good for 22nd place, edging out the previous record — set in 2016 — by 0.47 seconds.

D’Anieri also set a personal record in the 800 meters with a 29th-place time of 1:52.58, and first-year Evan Ensslin was close behind in 30thplace at 1:52.60. When those times are converted — BU has a banked track — they currently rank No. 11 and 12, respectively, in Div. III.

Steinberg finished in the 3,000 meters with a personal record time of 8:31.65; his converted time currently ranks No. 47 in Div. III.

"BU has a fast track, so it was nice to be able to go there and run fast," Steinberg said. "There was a lot of energy from earlier races ... It was one of those days where I could put things together and run really fast, so it was nice to be able to do that."

The 4x400 meters relay team of junior OJ Armstrong, sophomores Sam Oomen-Lochtefeld and Riley Patten and first-year Andrii Campbell placed 12th at 3:20.26, which currently ranks No. 31 in Div. III.

For the women’s team, sophomore Danielle Page finished the 3,000 meters in 9:55.20, a personal record which currently ranks No. 17 in Div. III after being converted.

“A [personal record] is always good,” Page said. “I definitely felt a little flat during my race, but I feel like I can improve on that, which is the most exciting thing.”

In the 400 meters, senior co-captain Julia Gake ran a personal record 58.10, good for 64th place at the meet and No. 28 in Div. III. The 800 meters had two top-30 times: sophomore Hannah Neilon at a personal best 2:15.69 for 76th place and No. 21 and sophomore Tara Lowensohn finishing a personal best 2:15.94 for 85th place and No. 26.

In the mile, senior co-captain Rhemi Toth ran a No. 18 Div. III ranked time of 5:00.32, good for 84th place, while sophomore Anna Slager ran a time of 5:05.13 for 111th place, which currently ranks No. 41 in Div. III. And the 4x400 meters relay squad of first-year Campbell Devlin, Neilon, sophomore Luana Machado and Gake placed 22nd at 3:57.03, which currently ranks No. 23 in Div. III.

Both the women’s and men’s teams will travel to Springfield College this weekend to compete in the Triangle Classic, which will be the last indoor regular season meet before the New England Div. III Championship on Feb. 28 and 29.

“We had a lot of people set personal bests and have breakout performances, which is always exciting going into the postseason,” Page said. “It’s that point in the season where people are starting to come into their own and we definitely had that demonstrated on Friday [at BU].”