On Saturday afternoon, the Amherst men’s track and field team competed in the Tufts Invitational at the Baronian Field House in Medford, Massachusetts. Thomas Matthew ’16 qualified for the final heat and finished fifth in the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.31. David Ingraham ’18 and Stadtler Thompson ’19 finished back-to-back in the 200-meter dash to take eighth and ninth overall with marks of 23.59 and 23.75, respectively. Ingraham also enjoyed success in the 400-meter dash where he placed sixth, coming in at 52.13.

In the middle distance events, first-year Kristian Sogaard claimed second in the 600-meter run (1:23.52), Jesse Fajnzylber ’17 earned 12th in the 800-meter (2:01.41) and Kevin Connors ’17 put up a time of 2:30.55 to claim second place overall in the 1000-meter run.
The purple and white also had great success in long distance events. Steven Lucey ’17 earned second in the one mile run with a mark of 4:17.07. Fajnzylber was the second purple and white runner to cross the finish line, placing 10th with 4:31.49. Running in the 3,000-meter run, first-year Cosmo Brossy claimed seventh (8:34.90), and Mohamed Hussein ’18 placed second overall in the 5,000-meter run with a time of 14:36.60. Jeff Seelaus ’16 took eighth in the event (15:02.34), while Dan Crowley ’16 finished tenth (15:14.11).

The Amherst men’s track and field team also fielded a talented 4x800-meter relay squad. The quartet of Connors, Brent Harrison ’16, Lucey and Sogaard placed second overall in the 4x800-meter relay with a time of 7:53.50.

In the field events, senior Khalil Flemming took ninth in the long jump with a distance of 6.09 meters and fifth in the triple jump (13.15 meters).
Matthew finished seventh in the 20-man shot put with a distance of 13.02 meters, while first-year Sam Amaka claimed ninth (12.94 meters). With a distance of 13.2 meters, Matthew also earned ninth in the weight throw.

“The cross country guys are adjusting pretty well to the track. The squad this year is really young and thus far the first-years have raced superbly,” Hussein said. “All the guys have put in a lot of work over interterm and now are reaping the benfits. We’ll see the best from most of the guys in the upcoming weeks as we head into championship season.”

Amherst track and field travels to Boston University to compete in the Valentine Classic on Feb. 12 beginning at 10 a.m.