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Dan Lange Vagle won the 60 meters with a school record
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MEDFORD - The Jumbo men's track & field team tallied four wins and seven top-three performances to finish third of 10 teams at the season-opening Tufts Invitational at the Gantcher Center on Saturday.
Bates emerged victorious with 147 points while UMass Lowell scored 130 for the runner-up spot. The Jumbos' total of 99 was good enough for third. Worcestor State and Amherst rounded out the top-five with 88.5 and 79 points respectively.
Junior Dan Lange Vagle (St. Paul, MN) highlighted the meet by breaking the school-record in the 60 meter dash en route to victory. His time of 7.15 bested senior Vinnie Lee's record set last season.
Freshman Mitchell Black (Brunswick, ME) turned in an impressive performance in his first collegiate meet, clocking a time of 1:22.96 in the 600 to earn the win. Junior Jamie Norton (Groton, MA) also performed well in a mid-distance event. He clocked a time of 2:33.60 in the 1,000 to place second.
In the field, the Jumbos notched two victories. Senior Gbola Ajayi (Lagos, Nigeria) won the triple jump with a leap of 44'8" (13.63m) and placed second in the long jump with a mark of 21'2" (6.45m). He was backed by freshman Bryson Hoover Hankerson, who placed fourth with a jump of 19'2 ½" (5.86m).
In the pole vault, senior tri-captain Brad Nakanishi (Scarborough, ME) emerged victorious with his clearance of 15'5" (4.70m). Junior Trevor Rothaus (Placentia, CA) also performed well, clearing 13'11" (4.25m) to place fifth.
Among the throwers, sophomore Brian Williamson (Prairie Village, KS) notched the highest finish, as he placed third in the shot put with his heave of 49'4 ¾" (15.05m).
While the Jumbos were unable to knock off conference-rival Bates, these stellar performances kicked the season off in fine fashion nonetheless.
Coach Ethan Barron's team will split up next week as a handful of runners will compete at Boston University on Thursday, while the rest of the squad will head north to the Bowdoin Invitational on Saturday.
Meet results
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