LA CROSSE, WI - Four members of the Tufts men's outdoor track & field team come home as All-Americans after their efforts at the 2013 NCAA Championships in Wisconsin Thursday through Saturday.
Seniors Gbola Ajayi (Lagos, Nigeria) and Mike Blair (Wellesleya, MA), junior Ben Wallis (Dover, NH), and freshman Mitch Black (Brunswick, ME) all placed among the top eight in the country in their events. The foursome scored 10 points with its finishes, giving the Jumbos a tie for 22nd place as a team.
Ajayi's fifth in the triple jump was the highest finish at the meet for Tufts. One of three Jumbos to earn his All-American status on Saturday, Ajayi's 49'2 1/2" (15.00m) was his season-best and came on his second of five attempts. The distance gave him the third All-American honor of his career, but the first earned outdoors.
Also on Saturday, Wallis and Black had All-American performances in the 3,000-meter steeplechase and the 800 meters finals, respectively. Wallis had qualified 11th for the steeplechase in the preliminaries on Thursday and moved up to seventh in the final with a 9:07.72 finish. Wallis ran the All-American finish in his first-ever NCAA track appearance. Also at his first nationals, Black also improved his finish in the 800 final. He took seventh in 1:51.92 after qualifying ninth.
Blair was the first to score for Tufts after finishing the decathlon seventh on Friday. He scored 6,528 points for an All-American finish, his first. He was just one point out of sixth place and 13 points out of a top-five performance. 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.
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.
The seven athletes qualifying, four All-Americans, and top 25 finish in the team standings is a strong step forward for the Jumbo men's track & field program.
Meet results
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