UMass Boston Outdoor Track & Field Places Third At Tufts Sunshine Classic

MEDFORD, Mass.— Senior Hulerie McGuffie (Lynn, Mass.) and sophomores Dom Nda (Pittsfield, Mass.) and Taylor Driggers (Norwich, Conn.) each earned three top-three finishes, to help UMass Boston Outdoor Track & Field finish in third place on the men's and women's side at the Tufts University Sunshine Classic.

THE BASICS
Men's – 3^rd out of 6 Teams
Women's—3^rd Out of 7 Teams

HOW IT HAPPENED
McGuffie, Nda and Driggers combined for four of the Beacons' five first-place finishes on the day, as the Beacons had a strong showing across the board.

McGuffie easily won the 100M (12.69) and 200M (25.38) and was a part of the Beacons' 4x100M
team that finished third with a time of 49.93 seconds.

Driggers was responsible for one first-place, one second-place and one third-place finish. Driggers won the long jump event for the second-straight week with a leap of 17-04.25 feet and finished second with a season-best jump of 36-04.25 feet in the triple jump. In the 100M dash, she finished fourth with a time of 13.40.

Nda was nearly as successful, as he took home the title in the 200M and earned top-three finishes in the long jump and the 4x100M relay. The sophomore sprinter tied his personal-best with a time of 22.32 seconds to easily defeat the field in the 200M. In the long jump, Nda took third place with a jump of 20-04.50 feet, which marked the longest leap for any Beacon this outdoor season.

The Beacons' 4x100M relay team took second place, just behind Tufts' side, as Kelly Desane (Cambridge, Mass.), Logan Mitchell (Franklin, Mass.), Timothy Gibson (Rockland, Mass.) and Nda finished in 43.47.

UMass Boston's 4x400M men's relay team defeated two other sides to take first place. The combination of Cameron Chase (Lutz, Fla.), Rokas Piragis (Brockton, Mass.), Jonathan Reed (Abington, Mass.) and Desane cruised to the win in a time of 3:38.33.

Mitchell also grabbed a top-five finish in the triple jump with a finish of 41-05.75 feet, while Ricardo Maldonado (Revere, Mass.) placed third in the javelin with a heave of 152-03 feet.

On the women's side, senior Anisha Trappier (Taunton, Mass.) finished just behind McGuffie in the 100M and 200M. She ended the 100M second with a time of 12.99 and took third in the 200M with a time of 26.14.

Lexy Bean (Danvers, Mass.) took home fifth place in the 400M, with a time of 1:01.05. Lauren Olton (Stoneham, Mass.) grabbed a fifth-place finish in the high jump, as she ended the day with a career-best height of 4-10.25.

In the throws, Jazmine Smith (Burlington, Mass.) earned two top four-finishes. The junior placed fourth in the shot put (35-06.50 feet) and third in the discus throw with a season-best throw of 134-03.

WHAT'S NEXT
UMass Boston will travel to Dartmouth, Mass. For the 2016 Little East Conference/New England Alliance Championship Meet on Saturday April 30.