MEDFORD, Mass. – The UMass Dartmouth men's indoor track & field team had an outstanding day on Saturday at the Tufts Cupid Challenge. The Corsairs posted 13 personal records and saw seven New England Division III Qualifying marks achieved at the non-team scoring meet.
The meet opened with the 5,000-meters as senior
Colin Ozturk finished 40th overall in 16:30.07, while sophomore
Connor Bruni was right behind in 41st with a mark of 16: 38.79. Rookie
William Johnson was 45th in 17:08.33, while sophomore
Michael Gemelli was 50th overall in 17:29.63.
In the 60-meter hurdles, rookie
Jayden Francois powered his way to 15th overall in a personal record and New England Division III Provisional time of 8.80. Sophomore
Bunmi Fabikun ran to 34th overall with a time of 9.32. Next up was the 60-meter dash, which saw two different runnings on the day. The invitational saw rookie
Shemar Dillon finish 24th in 7.22, while junior
Justin Andrade was 25th, also with a time of 7.22.
In the open section of the 60m dash, rookie
Dylan Njika was 21st overall in 7.40, while sophomore
Maddox Dupre was 23rd in 7.43. Senior
Jalen Castillo ran to 31st in 7.48, while rookie
Carlos Cruz was 33rd in 7.51. Sophomore
Devin Nieves finished 47th in 7.70, while rookie
Marcus Pires was 52nd in 7.75.
The mile event saw sophomore
Jackson Caron run to 18th overall with a personal record time of 4:31.68, while senior
Ethan Sylvia was 23rd in 4:35.76. Rookie
Stevie MacLennan placed 31st overall in a personal record of 4:39.83, while classmate
Sean Benvissuto was 38th in 4:51.08 – also a personal record.
Sophomore
Daniel Jordan powered his way to second overall in the 400-meter dash with a New England DIII Provisional mark of 51.17, while Francois was seventh overall with a personal best of 52.25. Junior
RJ Stone was 17th in 53.97, while rookie
Trevor Godfrey was 30th in 55.45. Classmate
Kaden Thomas was 31st in 56.40, while sophomore
Jonathan Gourdine posted 37th in 57.78. Junior
Josh Kurutu was 41st in a personal record time of 1:01.08, while senior
Fernando Gaspar Rodriguez was 42nd in 1:02.98.
The 600-meters saw rookie
Michael Veegh finish second overall with a personal record and NED3 Provisional time of 1:23.06. The 200m dash was paced by sophomore
Zane Gordon, who was sixth overall in 23.23. Taking 34th was Dupre in 24.31, while Njika finished 40th in a personal record time of 24.70. Rounding out the effort was Castillo, who was 46th in 24.98.
In a packed 800-meter run field, junior
Joseph Stanton took second overall in 1:58.05 with an NED3 Provisional time. Rookie
Edward Yeboah placed 19th overall in a personal record time of 2:04.43. Junior
James Carriere ran to 21st overall in 2:05.04, while sophomore
Jack Barbato was 23rd with a personal record time of 2:05.54.
The field events saw sophomore
Sean Patrone take fifth overall with an NED3 Automatic qualifying mark of 1.92 meters (6' 3.5"), while rookie
Ewan McLeod was sixth with the same mark of 1.92m (6' 3.5") – another NED3 Automatic Qualifying mark.
Rookie
Anthony Drinkwater paced the triple jump, recording a personal record jump of 13.43 meters (44' .75"). His eighth place finish was also an NED3 Provisional mark. Classmate
Marcus Pires placed 19th overall in 12.07 meters (39' 7.25").
The shot put saw sophomore
Mickey Valentino post eighth overall with an NED3 Provisional mark of 14.02 meters (46' 0"). Rookie Chalais Saintil finished ninth with a personal record mark of 13.97 meters (45' 10"), while sophomore
Kevin Saenz was 15th with a mark of 13.05m (42' 9.75"). Rounding out the action was rookie
Dan McCarthy, who posted 24th with a mark of 12.37 meters (40' 7").
In the long jump, Andrade was eighth overall with an NED3 Provisional mark of 6.57 meters (21' 6.75"), while Francois was 16th with a mark of 6.27 meters (20' 7"). Rookie
Bryce Kankam rounded out the event in 18th with a mark of 6.18 meters (20' 3.5").
The final event of the field competition was the weight throw, which saw rookie
Michael Gama take sixth overall in 15.24 meters (50' 0"). Valentino was 27th overall in 12.80 meters (42' 0"), while Saenz posted 32nd in 12.54m (41' 1.75"). McCarthy was 38th in 12.00m (39' 4.5") while rookie Michael Precious was 56th in 10.15m (33' 3.75").
UMass Dartmouth returns to action next Saturday when it heads North for the 2026 Little East Conference Championships. The Corsairs head to Plymouth State University for the meet in search of a conference title.
