MEDFORD, Mass. – It was another solid effort on Saturday as the UMass Dartmouth men's track & field team competed at the Tufts Sunshine Classic – a non-team scoring meet. The Corsairs were paced by three victories on the afternoon, including personal record efforts from senior
Connor Richard and rookie
Ancil Alexander.
The 5,000-meter event opened the day's track action as rookie
Connor Bruni posted ninth overall with a time of 16:43.77. Junior
Cooper Blatz was next across, posting 15th overall with a time of 18:47.16.
In the 1,500-meter run, graduate student
Davis Preston posted second overall with a personal best time of 4:05.01. Fifth-year
Jake Paris was right behind in third with a mark of 4:09.65, while junior
Ethan Sylvia finished fourth in a personal best time of 4:09.66. Grad student
Frank Wenner was eighth in 4:23.22, while rookie
Michael Gemelli was 10th in 4:33.34.
Victory came in the 400-meter dash as rookie
Zane Gordon recorded a personal best and D3 New England qualifying time of 49.28. Classmate
Daniel Jordan was seventh in a personal best time of 50.96, while junior
James Christie was ninth in a personal best time of 52.41. Rookie
Jonathan Gourdine was 11th in a personal best time of 53.19 as sophomore
RJ Stone finished 13th in 54.09. Rounding out the action was junior
Fernando Gaspar Rodriguez, who finished with a time of 1:00.94 – good for 19th.
In the 100-meter dash finals, sophomore
Justin Andrade finished second overall in a personal best time of 11.01. Junior
Jalen Castillo was fifth in 11.20 (personal best), while senior
Xavier Manuel – who posted a prelim mark of 10.95 – was sixth overall in 11.65.
The 800-meter run was led by sophomore
Joseph Stanton, who was fourth overall in a personal best time of 1:56.81, while classmate
Cameron Thompson was ninth in 1:59.69. Sophomore
Zack Shute finished 10th overall in a personal best time of 1:59.88, while classmate
James Carriere was 11th in 1:59.93 (personal best). Sophomore
Tyler Scanlon posted 16th in 2:04.22 (personal best), while classmates
Ronan Maloney and
Ben Bairos were 18th (2:05.26 – personal best) and 22nd (2:10.27), respectively. Rookie
Daniel Terpinas rounded out the action in 24th (2:19.63).
Rookie
Bryce Tessier was sixth overall in the 400-meter hurdles, finishing in a time of 58.04, while sophomore
Josh Kurutu was 14th in 1:05.83. In the 200-meter dash, Manuel was fourth overall in a personal best and D3 New England qualifying time of 22.16, while Jordan placed seventh in a personal best time of 22.30 - also a D3 New England qualifying time. Andrade was 11th in 22.65 (personal best), followed by Castillo in 18th with a time of 23.13 (personal best). Rookie
Maddox Dupre posted 27th in 24.04 (personal best), while Gaspar Rodriguez finished 39th in 25.37 (personal best).
Concluding the track events was the 4x400-meter relay as Preston, Thompson, Carriere and Stanton combined to place second in 3:36.00. Christie, Shute, Paris and Maloney were third overall with a time of 3:40.08, while Sylvia, Bairos, Gemelli and Scanlon were fifth in 3:54.86.
In the field events, rookie
Mickey Valentino finished strong in the hammer throw, earning sixth overall with a personal best mark of 39.40 meters (129' 3"). Classmate
Kevin Saenz was close behind, taking eighth overall with a personal best mark of 35.17 meters (115' 4").
The Corsairs picked up a victory in the discus throw as Alexander posted a winning throw and D3 New England qualifying mark of 49.91 meters (163' 9"), while Saenz finished third with a personal best mark of 41.39 meters (135' 9"). Another victory came in the javelin throw as Richard won with a personal best throw of 61.80 meters. That mark currently ranks 11th in Division III and was another D3 New England qualifying mark.
Rookie
Scott Amin went on to finish ninth overall in the long jump with a distance of 6.21 meters (20' 4.5"), while in the high jump, junior
Vincenzo Videtta was second with a height of 1.90 meters (6' 2.75"). Amin and rookie
Sean Patrone each finished sixth with jumps of 1.90 meters (6' 2.75").
Alexander posted another victory for the Corsairs in the shot put, recording a personal best throw of 15.92 meters (52' 2.75"). That mark was the 25th best throw in DIII this season and another D3 New England qualifying mark. Saenz was ninth with a mark of 12.61 meters (41' 4.5"), while Valentino was 14th with a throw of 10.91 meters (35' 9.5"). In the pole vault, rookie
Devin Nieves placed third with a personal best height of 2.90 meters (9' 6.25").
The Corsairs return to action next Saturday when they host the 2025 Little East Conference Outdoor Championships. Action gets underway for both the track and field events at 10:00am.
