NORTON, Mass. – Powered by a number of outstanding efforts, the UMass Dartmouth men's indoor track & field team won the 2026 Wheaton Invitational on Saturday. The Corsairs compiled 162 points to defeat Springfield (136) and six other teams at Beard Fieldhouse. Pacing the way were four victories, 22 personal records, 10 New England D3 Qualifying marks, five season's best and another school record for sophomore
Ancil Alexander.
The sophomore thrower won the shot put for the second straight week, eclipsing the school record he broke twice last week with a mark of 17.49 meters (57' 4.75"). That mark took down his previous throw of 17.34 meters and was another New England D3 Automatic Qualifying mark. Currently, he ranks fifth among all Division III shot put competitors.
Also finishing strong in the shot put was sophomore
Mickey Valentino, who posted a New England D3 Automatic mark of 14.30 meters (46' 11") for third overall in the field. Rookie Chalais Saintil was sixth with a throw of 13.74 meters (45' 1"), while sophomore
Kevin Saenz was seventh with a personal record throw of 13.28 meters (43' 7"). Rounding out the solid efforts in 10th was rookie
Dan McCarthy with a personal record mark of 13.10 meters (42' 11.75").
Rookie
Michael Gama won the weight throw with a mark of 15.36 meters (50' 4.75") which was a New England D3 Provisional Qualifying mark, while Alexander took fifth in the event with a throw of 13.56 meters (44' 6"). McCarthy was ninth with a personal record of 12:34m (40' 6"), while Valentino posted 12th with a throw of 11.94 meters (39' 2.25").
In the long jump, rookie
Bryce Kankam was second with a jump of 6.29 meters (20' 7.75"), while classmate
Jayden Francois was third overall with a distance of 6.19 meters (20' 3.75"). Junior
Justin Andrade rounded out the efforts in fifth with a mark of 6.09 meters (19' 11.75").
Sophomore
Devin Nieves took sixth in the pole vault with a height of 2.95 meters (9' 8"), while rookie
Anthony Drinkwater was third overall in the triple jump with a mark of 12.75 meters (41' 10"). Classmate
Marcus Pires was fourth with a season's best mark of 12.64 meters (41' 5.75"), while sophomore
Kevin Ayala was seventh with a jump of 11.91 meters (39' 1").
Rounding out the field events was the high jump as sophomore
Sean Patrone recorded a personal record and New England D3 Automatic mark of 2.02 meters (6' 7.5") to win the event. Rookie
Ewan McLeod was second overall with an NED3 Auto mark of 1.97 meters (6' 5.5"), while senior
Vincenzo Videtta posted an NED3 Provisional height of 1.87 meters (6' 1.5") for sixth.
It was a packed field in the 60-meter dash, paced by rookie
Shemar Dillon, who posted an NED3 Provisional time of 7.19 for sixth overall. Sophomore
Maddox Dupre took seventh overall with a personal record time of 7.27. Rookie
Dylan Njika was 10th with a personal record time of 7.31, while sophomore
Jonathan Gourdine posted 11th in 7.33. Classmate
Zane Gordon was 19th with a time of 7.40 as Ayala was 20th with a personal record time of 7.40.
In the 400-meters, sophomore
Daniel Jordan was fourth overall with a personal record and NED3 Provisional time of 51.22. Rookie
Michael Veegh was sixth overall with a time of 51.51. In the 400-m collegiate event, rookie
Kaden Thomas was eighth overall with a season's best time of 55.28, while classmate
Jacob Marques was 11th overall in 55.47.
The 200-meter dash saw Gordon take sixth overall with a time of 23.48, while Andrade was 10th overall with a season's best time of 24.06. The mile was paced by junior
James Carriere, who was second overall in 4:40.53, while rookie
Sean Benvissuto was ninth with a personal record time of 4:54.74.
In the 1,000-meters, junior
Cameron Thompson had an outstanding effort, winning with a personal record and NED3 Automatic time of 2:29.98. Classmate
Joseph Stanton earned second overall with a personal record and NED3 Provisional time of 2:32.29, while junior
Zack Shute was seventh overall with a season's best time of 2:41.24. Sophomore
Jack Barbato was 10th with a personal record time of 2:42.84 as junior
Tyler Scanlon also hit a personal record – taking 11th overall in 2:45.94.
Senior
Ethan Sylvia paced the 3,000-meters with a second-place finish of 9:09.22 – which was also a personal record. Sophomore
Connor Bruni had a personal record time of 9:29.78 for fourth, followed by senior
Colin Ozturk in fifth with a personal record time of 9:33.10.
The final event on the track was the 4x400-meter relays which saw the Corsairs with five different groups. Taking third was the foursome of Gordon, sophomore
Bunmi Fabikun, Dillon and rookie
Trevor Godfrey with a time of 3:31.82. The relay of Veegh, Francois, Gourdine and junior
RJ Stone was fourth in 3:33.41, while Shute, Thompson, rookie
Edward Yeboah and Stanton were sixth in 3:37.46.
The relay group of Barbato, Scanlon, sophomore
Isaac Toweh and Carriere was 12th in 3:46.39, while Marques, sophomore
Michael Gemelli, junior
Ben Bairos and Benvissuto were 13th in 3:53.08.
UMass Dartmouth will see select members in action on Friday at the David Hemery Valentine Invitational at Boston University, while the team is back on Saturday in Medford at the Tufts Cupid Challenge.
