The Amherst men’s outdoor track and field team competed at its own Amherst Spring Fling Invitational meet on Saturday afternoon at Pratt Field. Compiling 78 total points, the team claimed third place in a field of nine teams.

In the 100-meter dash, senior Thomas Matthew sprinted to a second-place finish with a time of 11.26 seconds,while first-year Stadtler Thompson finished in 11.40 seconds for a sixth-place finish.

Sophomore Aziz Khan claimed eight points with a second-place finish in the 200-meter dash with a time of 22.76 seconds.
In the 800-meter run, the purple and white earned 13 points from Chris Butko ’18 who powered to a first place finish with a spectacular run of 1:53.98. Brent Harrison ’16 added a fifth-place finish (1:57.04), while Steven Lucey ’17 (1:57.14) tabbed a sixth-place mark.

Senior Dan Crowley finished first in the 1500-meter run to earn 10 points and finished with a time of 3:59.60, while classmate Jeff Seelaus ’16 secured top honors in the 300-meter steeplechase with a time of 9:40.46.

The tandem of Vernon Espinoza ’19, Ermias Kebede ’19, David Ingraham ’18 and Harrison combined for fifth place in the 4x400 relay with a time of 3:36.05.

In the 4x800, the quartet of Lucey, Butko, Kristian Sogaard ’19 and Kevin Connors ’17 finished first with a tremendous time of 7:53.69.

In the field events, Matthew finished fourth in the shot put with a throw of 12.30 meters.

This week the purple and white will compete in two weeks. On Friday, April 15, they travel to New London, Connecticut for the Connecticut College Invitational.

They then compete at the UMass Invitational on Saturday, April 16. These are the team’s last two meets before they enter championship season with NESCACs the following week.