MEDFORD, Mass. – It was another outstanding day of action for the UMass Dartmouth men's track & field team, who competed at the Tufts Cupid Challenge at the Gantcher Athletic Center on Saturday. The Corsairs saw a number of outstanding efforts in the non-team scoring meet, including a victory and numerous qualifying standards.
The lone field event – after many of the Corsairs were in action on Friday at Coast Guard – saw sophomore
Justin Andrade compete in the long jump. He posted third overall with a just of 6.58 meters (21' 7.25") which also marked a Division III New England qualifying standard.
In the 60-meter hurdles, rookie
Bryce Tessier posted seventh overall, advancing to the finals and posting a finish time of 9.00 after hitting a 9.09 in qualifying.
The 60-meter dash saw two Corsairs advance to the final with senior
Xavier Manuel earning the victory. He won for the second straight week, posting a DIII NE and NEICAAA qualifying standard time of 6.99. Andrade took fifth overall with a time of 7.14, while rookie
Kevin Ayala was 25th with a time of 7.54. Junior
Elan Ben Yosef finished 32nd in 7.95.
In the 5000-meters, rookie
Connor Bruni earned second overall with at time of 16:56.05, while in the 1-Mile event, sophomore
Ronan Maloney posted 24th with a time of 4:43.05. Rookies
Daniel Terpinas and
Michael Gemelli were 31st (5:06.30) and 32nd (5:09.21), respectively.
Next up in the 400-meter dash, rookie
Zane Gordon shined, earning second overall with a time of 50.71. That mark was another DIII New England qualifying standard. Classmate
Daniel Jordan took ninth overall in 53.12, while rookie
Jonathan Gourdine was 14th in 55.46.
In the 600-meter run, sophomore
Joseph Stanton powered his way to 14th overall in 1:25.83, a DIII New England qualifying standard. Senior
Nico LaCortiglia posted 18th in 1:26.37, while sophomore
Zack Shute was 25th overall in 1:28.81. Fellow second-year
Tyler Scanlon went on to take 27th in 1:29.92, while junior
James Christie was 28th in 1:30.13. Rookie
Isaac Toweh rounded out the event in 31st with a time of 1:34.65.
Graduate student
Davis Preston led the way for the Corsairs in the 800-meter run, finishing ninth overall in 2:00.47. Maloney was 14th in 2:12.08, while junior
Cooper Blatz was 15th in 2:15.17. Sophomore
Ben Bairos posted 16th in 2:16.66 as Gemelli was 17th in 2:20.75.
The 1000-meters was paced by rookie
Jackson Caron, who crossed in 21st in 2:43.95. Junior
Colin Ozturk posted 26th in 2:54.79, while rookie
Jack Barbato was 27th in 2:56.82.
Manuel shined once again in the 200-meter dash, finishing third overall in a DIII NE qualifying time of 22.78. Andrade posted 17th in 23.69, while Ben Yosef and Ayala were 31st (25.14) and 32nd (25.26), respectively.
The Corsairs concluded the meet in the 4x400-meter relay with three teams in action. The foursome of Gordon, Jordan, Tessier and LaCortiglia earned third overall with a time of 3:28.18, while Shute, Christie, sophomore
James Carriere and Stanton were 10th in 3:40.28. Caron, Scanlon, Toweh and Barbato placed 16th overall in 3:57.04.
UMass Dartmouth returns to action next weekend with a pair of meets in the Boston area. The Corsairs men head to Boston University for the David Hemery Valentine Invitation on Friday, before making their way across town on Saturday for the Gordon Kelly Invitational at MIT.
