MEDFORD - Junior Ben Wallis (Dover, NH) of the Tufts men's outdoor track & field team finished 11th in the preliminaries of the 3,000-meter steeplecase at the 2013 NCAA Championships on Thursday at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. He was one of 14 qualifiers for the steeplechase final, which will be held on Saturday.
Wallis ran 9:08.15 in the preliminaries on Thursday as his effort highlighted four Jumbos in action on the first day of the national meet. His time was actually 10th best out of the qualifers, where the top five from two heats and the next best four advance. The steeplechase final starts at 2:10 on Saturday.
Senior Matt Rand (Cape Elizabeth, ME) closed his strong running career at Tufts with a 12th place finish in the NCAA 10,000 meters on Thursday. His 30:49.80 time was 12th. Junior Jamie Norton (Groton, MA) ran in the preliminaries of the NCAA 1,500 meters also on Thursday. He did not qualify for the final with a 4:10.06 finish.
Tufts senior Mike Blair (Wellesley, MA) is in the NCAA decathlon field and is 10th after the first five events on Thursday with a total of 3,422 points. His top score came in the high jump, where his 6'4 3/4" (1.95m) clearance scored 758 points. He also ran a 52-flat in the 400 for a 725 score. The final five events will be competed on Friday.
The Jumbos did not score any team points on Thursday. In addition to Blair completing the decathlon on Friday, senior tri-captain Curtis Yancy (St. Louis, MO) is entered in the hammer throw and freshman Mitch Black (Brunswick, ME) will run in the 800 on the second day of the national meet.
Meet results
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