CAMBRIDGE, MA (February 10, 2024) -- The Tufts University men's track and field team had a busy day all over the Boston area, as the Jumbos competed in both the MIT Invitational and Boston University David Hemery Valentine Invitational.
Starting first with action at the Boston University David Hemery Valentine Invite,
Ivan Appleton had a historic race in the men's 5000 meter run as he finished seventh overall among a field consisting of mostly Division I athletes. In the race, he set a new personal and school record in the 5k indoors with a time of 14:11.13. The previous school record was 14:19.45 by Tim Nichols back in 2017.
In the 3000 meters,
Alex Friedman raced to a new personal-best time of 8:28.14 for a strong finish of 41st out of 83 runners. In the 60 meter hurdles, sophomore
Josh Wilkie ran a 9.00 for 26th place overall, and
Alex Lemieux was 20th in the 60 meter dash after running a time of 7.03 seconds. The 800 meter run saw
Jackson O'Toole post a 1:55.89, while
Walter Wagude crossed the finish line in a 1:57.20.
Five runners competed in the 400 meters, led by first-year
Neil Chowdhury and his time of 48.17. The time is currently ranked No. 17 in NCAA Division III, as he took 20th place in a very strong field.
Luke Botsford was right behind him with a 48.27 for 23rd place, while
Noah Turner raced to a time of 49.19 for 54th place.
Ethan Forde finished 93rd overall with a 49.95, and
Brian Kwarteng crossed the finish line in 52.53 seconds.
Botford was back on the track for the 200 meter dash, and ran a personal-best time of 21.56 to improve his NCAA Top 50 ranking to No. 6 with his sixth-place finish. Lemieux also was 50th overall in the 200 with a time of 22.20. Another school record would fall in the Tufts 4x400 meter relay, as Chowdhury, Turner, Lemieux and Botsford sped to a 3:14.39 for 10th place overall. The time broke the previous school mark of 3:15.34 set back in 2015.
Transitioning to the MIT Invitational, Tufts had some strong finishes especially in the mid-distance categories. Senior
Ryan Proulx posted a regional-qualifying time of 2:35.74 in winning the 1000 meters and setting a personal-best time. In the mile,
Quinn Hampson was the winner as well with a 4:22.92, while
Jonah Reisner was third after running a 4:29.23. The 5000 meters was another victory for Tufts, as sophomore
Luke Brennan crossed the finish line first after running a New England Regional qualifying time of 15:07.51.
In the 200 meters, first-year Charlie Fitzpatrick finished third overall after running a 23.39, and classmate
Simon Donovan was runner-up in the 800 meters after running a 1:58.68 for a regional qualifying time. First-year
Meba Henok also qualified for the regional meet with a time of 1:59.82 for fourth place.
In the 60 hurdles,
Jay Sharma was third in the preliminaries with a time of 8.83 and then posted an 8.80 in the finals for eighth place. In the jumps, junior
Karsten Kropp continued to have a great year as he was the runner-up in the high jump with a height of 1.96 meters. First-year
Sami Witta took fourth after clearing the bar at 1.86 meters as well. In the pole vault, first-year
Ryder Kropiwnicki chalked up his collegiate-best mark after getting over 4.25 meters for second place. Senior
Hunter Farrell also was good on 4.25 meters as well, finishing third in the pole vault.
In the shot put, senior
Louis Tuccio tallied a mark of 14.31 meters for seventh place, while
Martin Decker led Tufts in the weight throw as he took eighth place with a toss of 14.86 meters.
Tufts will head to Springfield, MA next weekend to compete in the Springfield College Invitational Saturday, February 17 at 10 a.m.
--JUMBOS--
