MEDFORD – In its first race of the season, the Tufts men's indoor track & field distance medley relay ran an excellent 10:00.29 time to highlight the Jumbos' performance at the Cupid Challenge Saturday at the Gantcher Center.
Tufts had sophomore Nick Delaney in the 1,200-meter leg, freshman Andrii Campbell in the 400, freshman Evan Ensslin in the 800 and senior Matt D'Anieri in the anchor 1,600-meter role. Tufts' time was second in the race, behind only Division 2 American International College (9:53.99 facility record). In the early stages of the DMR this season, the Jumbo mark is #1 in the nation for Division III. Historically a strong event for Tufts, today's time is ranked ninth in the program's history.
With a 1:55.56 PR in the 800 meters today, Tufts senior co-captain Roman Lovell had the #22 mark in the national rankings. He was third in the race. Freshman Marcus Hardy finished the 800 in 1:57.42, just outside of the DIII top 50.
Junior co-captain Harry Steinberg also jumped into the national rankings with his 15:03.49 runner-up finish in the 5,000 meters. More than a 13-second PR, Steinberg's time is #28.
Tufts' 4x400-meter relay of Hardy, sophomore Riley Patten, sophomore Sam Oomen-Lochtefeld and junior OJ Armstrong finished in 3:26.07 for a top 50 national mark.
D'Anieri added a 1:22.06 victory in his first-ever 600 meters race. Freshman Hunter Farrell in the pole vault and junior Dylan Daisey in the weight throw both matched their PRs with 14'7 ¼" (4.45m) and 49'11 ¾" (15.23m) marks, respectively. For the second straight week senior Christian Trebisacci had a career-best in the shot put (44'11" – 13.69m) and sophomore John Cyprus PR'd with a 4:34.12 in the mile.
Today's meet was not scored.
Tufts has the David Hemery Valentine Invite at Boston University and MIT's Gordon Kelly Invitational on the schedule for next weekend (Feb. 14-15).
