SOMERVILLE - Senior tri-captain Nick Usoff won twice as the Tufts University men's outdoor track & field team was first in eight events overall to earn victory at the annual Snowflake Classic held at Dussault Track on Sunday.
Tufts topped the 18-team field with 153 points. They were well ahead of second-place RPI (104.5) and third-place Worcester State (102.5). Southern Maine was fourth at 61 points while Boston University rounded out the top five with a 59 score.
Usoff won the 400-meter hurdles in 55.52 seconds, the 24th ranked time in DIII as of 9:15 p.m. Sunday night. He also scored 10 first-place points for Tufts by winning the javelin throw. His 178'6" (54.40m) heave is the #37 mark in the nation.
The top Tufts national performance came from junior Andrew DiMaiti in the 400 meters. His 48.54 winning time is sixth-best in the nation early in the outdoor season. The Jumbos scored 21 points in the 400 as freshman Jordan Abate was second with a 49.31 mark that is 25th nationally. Sophomore Thomas Doyle placed sixth (50.93).
New England indoor high jump champion Stefan Duvivier made his outdoor debut for 2017 and won the high jump with 6'6" (1.98m) clearance, ranked 20th in DIII.
The Jumbos won the 4x100 and 4x400 relay events. The foursome of sophomore Anthony Kardonsky, senior Blake Coolidge, sophomore Brandon Levenstein and freshman Robert Jones put together a 43-flat in the 4x1. Abate, Coolidge, sophomore Christian Swenson and Kardonsky teamed up for a 3:21.90 in the 4x4 that is a top 40 national mark.
Other wins for Tufts came in the 110-meter hurdles where sophomore Josh Etkind timed 14.93 seconds, and in the 5,000 meters as junior Sam Little recorded a career-best 15:36.30.
A pair of Tufts season-bests were also earned by graduate student Michael Paloian, who threw 128'0" (39.01m) in the discus and 151'4" (46.13m) in the hammter. Sophomore Andrew Doherty Munro's 32:58.97 is the top 10K time for Tufts early on, as is the 12'11 1/2" (3.95m) pole vault by sophomore Ben Wallace.
Tufts has Princeton University's Sam Howell Invitational as well as a tri-meet at Bates with MIT on the schedule for next weekend.
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