In their first meet of the 2018 season, the Amherst men’s track and field team stormed to an impressive start, finishing second to Williams at the Little Three Championships, an annual tri-meet between Amherst, Williams and this year’s host Wesleyan.
The Mammoths totaled 124 points in the meet to the 151 scored by the Ephs, far ahead of the 76 points earned by the Cardinals in third place.
The 124 points earned by the Mammoths were the highest for the team in many years, an indication that the team is stronger than years prior and is ready to send shockwaves in regional and national competition.
The Little III meet has a unique scoring system, as only two athletes per team can score in an event.
The day began for the Mammoths in the field events, where Jordan Edwards ’20 set a new personal best in the triple jump with a hop, skip and a jump of 13.76 meters to win the event. Edwards also placed fourth in the long jump, right behind teammate Theo Bates ’20, who placed third with a leap of 6.25 meters with limited training.
Edwards also finished fifth in the high jump, just ahead of teammate Jack Dufton ’20 who also cleared 5’ 8”, but Edwards prevailed on misses. Dufton also led the Mammoths in the pole vault, clearing 7’ 0.5”, as did Stadler Thompson ’19.
In the throws, Sam Amaka ’19 finished fourth in the weight throw with a throw of 13.24 meters.
The action on the track roared off to a great start in the mile with the one-two finish of Cosmo Brossy ’19 and Clark Ricciardelli ’20E. Brossy pulled away from Ricciardelli over the last lap, where the junior used a sub-30 second clocking to win the event with a time of 4:22, only two seconds ahead of Ricciardelli who finished in 4:24.

In the 60-meter hurdles, Yonas Shiferaw ’20 and Theo Bates ’20 finished just 0.01 seconds apart, coming across the finish line with times of 8.94 and 8.95 seconds, respectively, times that qualified both hurdlers for DIII New Englands.

Captain Harrison Haigood ’18 placed second in the 400-meter dash with a new personal best of 51.32 seconds, while in the 600 meter run, Andrew Swenson ’21 finished second with a time of 1:25.

Elijah Ngbokoli ’20, fresh off a successful football season, finished second in the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.18 seconds, with teammate Mayowa Tinubu ’20 right behind him in fourth with a time of 7.26 seconds.

After toying with the pace in the first two laps of the 800-meter run, Vernon Espinoza ’19 and Ryan Prenosil ’21 finished first and second, crossing the line together in a time of 2:05.

Brossy came back for the 1,000 meters, his second event of the day, where he placed second in a time of 2:33, with teammate Spencer Ferguson-Dryden right behind him in a time of 2:34.

After being limited to three meets in his first year of collegiate competition due to injury, Stanley Dunwell ’20 made a triumphant return to the track, claiming second in the 20-meter dash with a time of 23.27 seconds.

Cross country All-American Ricciardelli doubled in the 3,000-meter run, finishing second with a time of 8:45, while teammate Tucker Meijer ’19 finished fourth in 8:55.

The meet concluded with two exciting relays, as the 4x800 meter relay of Espinoza, Estevan Velez ’20, Jamie Mazzola ’21 and Ermias Kebede ’19 chased the Ephs the whole race to finish second in a time of 8:07.

The 4x400 meter relay team delivered a victory, as Dunwell, captain David Ingraham ’18, Kyland Smith ’21 and Prenosil dominated the event with a winning time of 3:27, nearly six seconds ahead of second place Wesleyan.

At the Smith Pioneer Invitational on Jan. 20, the Mammoths sent fewer athletes to compete, with many choosing to train in preparation for larger and more competitive meets at Tufts the next two weekends.

Prenosil ran a solid 400-meter dash, posting a time of 51.43 seconds that qualified him for DIII New Englands.

In the 800-meter run, classmates Jacob Silverman ’19 and Jack Malague ’19 returned to the track in impressive fashion, as Silverman won the event with a time of 1:58, qualifying him for DIII New Englands. Malague finished third in 2:02.

Bates had another standout day in the 60-meter hurdles, finishing second with a time of 8.47 seconds, both a new Amherst record and personal best for the sophomore.

Braxton Schuldt ’21 and captain Justin Barry ’18 led from the gun in the 3,000-meter run, with Schuldt running to victory in his first ever collegiate track race in 9:01, with Barry not far behind him with a time of 9:09. The pair were nearly a full minute ahead of the next closest competitor.

The next two weekends, the Mammoths will travel to Tufts to compete at the Branwen Smith-King Invitational on Jan. 27 and the Cupid Challenge on Feb. 3, with DIII New England qualifying times in sight.