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Mitch Black ran a school-record and top national time in the 800
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NORTH EASTON - The Jumbo men's track & field team assembled three national-qualifying performances and several scoring marks to place sixth of 37 teams in the All-New England Championship at Stonehill College on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.
The meet serves as an opportunity to notch personal-bests and compete among the best in New England regardless of division.
Southern Connecticut won the team title with 159 points. The Jumbos' score of 59 was good enough for sixth. Bates was the only Division III team ahead of Tufts, as the Bobcats placed fourth with 61 points.
Senior Mike Blair (Wellesley, MA) got the action started in fine fashion on Thursday and Friday, as he placed second in the decathlon with 6,383 points. That total will qualify him for the NCAA Championship. He placed first in the high jump with a leap of 6'7 1/2" (2.02m), which tied the school record set by Jeremy Arak and James Bradley in 2007. Blair also won the decathlon long jump with a distance of 20'10" (6.35m).
On the track, freshman Mitch Black (Brunswick, ME) clocked a school-record time of 1:50.43 in the 800 to place second. He broke the record of 1:50.82 set by senior Jeff Marvel (Naples, FL) last year. Black's time ranks in the top three nationally and will qualify him for the NCAA Championship.
Also notching a runner-up finish was junior Jamie Norton (Groton, MA), as he clocked a personal-best time of 3:51.32 in the 1,500. That time ranks in the top 20 nationally and will most likely qualify him for the NCAA Championship.
The next-best finish on the track came from junior Ben Wallis (Dover, NH), as he took third in the steeplechase with a time of 9:07.71. In the 5,000, senior Matt Rand (Cape Elizabeth, ME) recorded a time of 14:41.59 to place fourth.
Junior Graham Beutler (Weston, CT) tallied two scoring performances in the long sprints, as he placed sixth in the 200 (22.14) and seventh in the 400 (50.18).
In the field, senior Gbola Ajayi (Lagos, Nigeria) leaped 47'5 3/4" (14.47m) in the triple jump to place fourth.
Senior tri-captain Curtis Yancy (St. Louis, MO) placed seventh in the discus with a heave of 149'11" (45.69m), while sophomore Brian Williamson (Prairie Village, KS) launched the shot put 52'6" (16.00m) to improve on his own school record of 52'4 3/4" (15.97m) set last week.
Coach Ethan Barron's team will look to improve on these performances next week in the ECAC Championship at Springfield, the final chance to qualify for the NCAA Championship.
Meet results
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