LA CROSSE, WI - Senior Mike Blair (Wellesley, MA) of the Tufts men's outdoor track & field team scored 6,528 points in the decathlon to take seventh place in the event at the 2013 NCAA Championships on Friday at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.
With the top-eight finish, Blair receives All-America honors in the event. He was just one point out of sixth place and 13 points out of a top-five performance. With the two team points earned by Blair's seventh, Tufts is tied for 24th entering the final day of competition on Saturday.
Blair was in 10th place after the first five events of the decathlon on Thursday, when he totaled 3,422 points. His top score that day 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. On Friday he moved up three spots to get his first career All-American honor. His top day two performance came in the 110-meter hurdles, where his 15.67 time added 770 points to his score.
Two Tufts runners have also qualified for Saturday's finals in their respective events at the NCAA meet. On Thursday, junior Ben Wallis (Dover, NH) finished 11th in the preliminaries of the 3,000-meter steeplecase with a 9:08.15 time. He was one of 14 qualifiers for the steeplechase final, which will be held on Saturday at 2:10 pm. Wallis' time was actually 10th best out of the qualifers, where the top five from two heats and the next best four advanced.
On Friday, Jumbo freshman Mitch Black (Brunswick, ME) qualfied for the 800 meters final with a ninth-place finish in the preliminaries. His 1:51.55 time earned the ninth and final spot in the finals, which will be run on Saturday at 4:30 pm. Black edged Ripon senior Cory Zimmerman (1:51.83) to take the last spot. There were three heats in the prelims, with the top two from each heat plus next best three moving on to final.
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 (20th). Senior Curtis Yancy (St. Louis, MO) was entered in the hammer throw on Friday and his 178'5" (54.39m) best effort took 18th at the meet.
In addition to Black and Wallis competing in the finals of their events on Saturday, Tufts senior Gbola Ajayi (Lagos, Nigeria) is in the NCAA triple jump field starting at 12:35 pm.
Meet results
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