Women Finish 4th, Men 9th at Tufts Invitational

MEDFORD, MA — The SUNY New Paltz men and women’s indoor track and field teams took part in the Tufts Invitational this past weekend in Medford, Massachusetts.

The women’s team finished with 83 points in 4th place at the eight-team meet. Tufts won the event with 220.5 points followed by Wheaton (197) and Stonehill College (85), who edged the Hawks by just two points for third place overall.

Musu Jackson-Buckner (Buffalo, NY) took second place in both the 200 meters and the 55 meters on the day. Jackson-Buckner qualified for the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference Indoor Championships in the 200 with a time of 26.74 seconds and finished the 55 meters in 7.60 seconds.

Ironically, the ECAC Indoor Championships will be held on March 7-8 at the very same track on the campus of Tufts University.

Also highlighting the women’s team was Rebecca Demeri (Wantagh, NY) who was second in the 1500 with a time of 5:07.61, and Stephanie Ramsey (Shelton, CT) who was second in the long jump with a leap of 15 feet, ¾ inches. Natasha Dudar (New Paltz, NY) was fourth in the event with a mark of 14 feet, eight and ¾ inches.

The men’s team ended the meet with 25 points in 9th place out of 13 competing teams. Tufts won the event with 142 points, ahead of Ithaca (106) and Bates College (102).

Scott Pollard (Spring Valley, NY) finished fifth and set a New Paltz record in the men’s high jump with a mark of five feet, 11 and ½ inches, and Andrew Hunsinger (Queensbury, NY) was sixth in the 55 meters with a time of 6.91 seconds.

Both teams will take place in the Cornell Kane Invitational on Saturday before traveling to Hobart College in Geneva, NY for the SUNYAC Indoor Championships the following Saturday.