MEDFORD - Sophomores Matt D'Anieri and Kevin Quisumbing and freshman Matthew Manteiga won events as the Tufts University men's indoor track & field team placed second out of 14 teams at the inauguarl Branwen Smith-King Invitational held on Saturday at the Gantcher Center.
Upon her retirement last year following 35 years as a coach and administrator for Tufts Athletics. the department and the track & field programs renamed the second home meet of the indoor season in Smith-King's honor. Hired in 1982, she became one of the most influential women in the history of Tufts Athletics, mentoring hundreds of student-athletes as the head coach of women's cross-country and track and field teams for 18 years and as assistant director of Tufts Athletics since 2000. Smith-King was at today's meet and a dedication ceremony took place prior to the start of the track events. Smith-King ceremonially fired the starting gun to start the running races.
D'Anieri won the 800 meters with a 1:57.58 flat track time that converts to a 1:55.93 banked track mark for a #22 national ranking in the event as of 6:30 p.m Saturday night. National rankings are based on banked track times this year due to the NCAA Division III Championship being held in that type of facility.
Manteiga won the long jump for the second straight week with a 21-8 1/4 mark (6.61m) today. Quisumbing scored his first victory of the season in the shot put, posting a 49-7 1/4 (15.12m) first-place throw.
Sophomore Robert Jones ran a nationall-ranked time in the 200 meters for the Jumbos. His 22.69 flat-track time which was second at the meet converts to a 22.29 banked track mark which is #28 nationall. Jones was also second in the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.11 seconds. He had been first in the preliminaries with a 7.09 time.
In the 600 meters, sophomore Jackson Mihm was the runner-up in a 1:24.24 time, while junior Ben Wallace continued a good start to his 2018 season with a second-place finish in the pole vault at 14-5 1/4 (4.40m), just shy of the national top 50.
In the 4x800 relay, the Jumbo foursome of D'Anieri, Mihm, sophomore Dylan McEniry and sophomore Roman Lovell combined on an 8:11.73 mark that was second.
Junior Josh Etkind was first in the preliminaries of the 60-meter hurdles at 8.52 seconds, but did not compete in the final.
Tufts finished with 119 team points, second only to first-place Stonehill's 147 total. MIT was third in the meet with an 85.5 score.
The Jumbos are home again next weekend with their annual two-day Cupid Challenge. The New England Intercollegiate Amateur Athletic Association Championships are also next Friday and Saturday at the Reggie Lewis Center in Boston.
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