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Ben Wallis ran a personal-best time in the steeplechase
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TROY, NY - With eight scoring performances, the Tufts men's track & field team placed seventh at the ECAC Championships hosted by RPI on Thursday and Friday.
NESCAC rival Bates won the meet with 61 points. Rowan and Ramapo rounded out the top three with 49 and 40 points respectively. The Jumbos' 28.5 points were good enough for seventh overall and third among New England teams.
This meet was the last chance for athletes to improve individual qualifying marks for the NCAA Championship next weekend.
Juniors Brad Nakanishi (Scarborough, ME) and Mike Blair (Wellesley, MA) were unable to improve their best marks, but notched high finishes nonetheless. Nakanishi cleared 15'7" (4.76m) to place fourth in the pole vault, while Blair accumulated 5,827 points in the decathlon for fourth. Meanwhile, classmate Gbola Ajayi (Lagos, Nigeria) notched a top-five finish in the long jump with his leap of 22'8" (6.91m).
Tufts throwers recorded three scoring performances. Junior Curtis Yancy (St. Louis, MO) had two of them. He placed sixth in the discuss with his heave of 147'10" (45.08m) and sixth in the hammer with a throw of 172'8" (52.63m). In the shot put, freshman Brian Williamson (Prairie Village, KS) placed seventh with a personal-best toss of 50'2" (15.31m).
On the track, sophomore Ben Wallis (Dover, NH) set another personal-best in the steeplechase with his time of 9:12.24, which was good enough for sixth. In the 5,000, junior Kyle Marks (Carmel, IN) placed in the top-five with a time of 14:46.99.
The meet closed out the season for most Tufts athletes. Looking ahead, juniors Jeff Marvel (800), Tyler Andrews (10,000), and Ajayi (triple jump) will represent the Jumbos at the NCAA Championship in Claremont, CA next week.
Meet results
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