CAMBRIDGE - Sophomore Michael Blair (Wellesley, MA) won the high jump and freshman Liam Cassidy (Brunswick, ME) was first in the 5,000 meters, leading the Tufts University men's outdoor track & field team to fifth place at the 2011 New England Division III Championships hosted by MIT.
Blair, the NESCAC high jump champ last week, won the regional crown with a 6'6" (1.98m) best. He remains on the verge of the NCAA qualifying mark, which stands at 6'8" (2.03m). Cassidy won by 2.5 seconds in the 5K over Bowdoin's Coby Horowitz, finishing in a 14:57.89 time. The titles were the first for the Jumbos at the regional meet since 2008, while Cassidy was the first Tufts freshman to win a New England championship since 2007.
The combined 20 points earned by the pair for their first places helped Tufts score 46.5 points at the meet.
The Jumbos were third in the 4x400 meter relay. Freshman Graham Beutler (Weston, CT), sophomore Lawrence Xia (Acton, MA), freshman Daniel Lange-Vagle (St. Paul, MN) and junior Ben Crastnopol (Doylestown, PA) combined on a 3:21.44 time.
Tufts scored nine points in the pole vault behind the efforts of sophomore Brad Nakanishi (Scarborough, ME) and senior co-captain Sam Read (Barkhamsted, CT). They were fourth and fifth, respectively, both clearing 14'11" (4.55m).
Sophomore Gbola Ajayi (Lagos, Nigeria) was fifth in both the long jump and triple jump to accumulate eight team points. He went 22'8" (6.91m) in the long jump and 45'3 1/2" (13.80m) in the triple. He was also part of the 4x100 meter relay that tied for seventh in 43.59 seconds, as was Lange-Vagle.
The Jumbos travel to Southern Connecticut State University for the All-New England meet May 12-14.
New England Div. III Championships results
#
