CAMBRIDGE - Senior Bryson Hoover-Hankerson nipped his own school record in the 60-meter dash as the Tufts Men's Track & Field team competed at the Gordon Kelly Invitational hosted by MIT on Saturday.
The Jumbos split up their squad for the day with half going to MIT and others attending Boston University's David Hemery Valentine Invitational.
Hoover-Hankerson's time of 7.14 seconds in the 60-meter dash was the highlight at MIT. He shaved 0.01 off his previous career best of 7.15 which he established as a school record last season. He was 0.02 behind race winner Victor Williams from Dartmouth (7.12). Hoover-Hankerson also placed fifth in the long jump at MIT with 21'1 1/2" (6.44m) distance.
Tufts junior Nick Usoff won the 600 meters race for the Jumbos at MIT with a 1:26.80 time. His was the only victory at the non-scoring meet for Tufts.
Freshman Josh Etkind had his season-best triple jump, going 44'0 3/4" (13.43m) for third place out of 18 entrants. He also competed in the 60-meter hurdles and posted a time of 8.62 seconds.
Senior Michael Paloian unwound a 52'2" (15.90m) weight throw, Tufts' best this season and third out of 29 at the meet. Both Etkind and Paloian were just outside of the national top 50 with their marks.
Senior Ife Adebayo was close behind Paloian in fifth place with a 51'7 1/4" (15.73m) weight throw. Sophomore Linus Gordon placed third in the long jump with a 21'8 3/4" (6.62m) mark in a field of 21. Freshman Charles Pennington recorded a third place in the nine-man high jump with 6'0" (1.83m) clearance.
The Jumbos start the championship season next weekend (Feb. 19-20) at Middlebury College for the New England Division III Championships.
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