LINCOLN, NE – The Tufts men's indoor track & field team went 4 for 4 on Friday at the opening day of the NCAA Div. III Championships being contested at the University of Nebraska's Devaney Center. All four Jumbos who competed advanced to the finals in their event.
Senior Graham Beutler broke the 18-year old Tufts indoor 400 record with a time of 48.16 seconds to run third in the preliminaries. He was one of eight to qualify for the national final, which will take place on Saturday at 2:35 CST. The time is 0.01 faster than the previous Tufts mark of 48.17 recorded by multiple All-American James Lavallee in 1996. Sophomore Tom Sippie from Lynchburg won Friday's NCAA prelims with a 47.93 time, 0.23 in front of Beutler.
Sophomore Jumbos Mitchell Black and Veer Bhalla will both run in the NCAA 800 final after they were among the top eight in the preliminaries. Black had the fourth-fastest time in the prelims with a 1:52.20, while Bhalla's 1:52.24 was sixth. Freshman McKena Ramos from Wisconsin-Oshkosh was tops in the prelims with a 1:51.38 from the second heat. The final is on Saturday at 3:45 CST.
The first Jumbo in action was senior tri-captain Jamie Norton, and he came through with a 4:13.63 in the mile preliminaries. That was the ninth of 10 to qualify for the final, which starts Saturday at 1:30 pm CST. Zach Haskins from Bethel won the qualifying heats with a 4:12.43 finish.
Head coach Ethan Barron's Jumbos put themselves in good position to score well as a team in tomorrow's finals. The top eight score in each event, guaranteeing All-American honors and team points for Beutler, Black and Bhalla.
Tufts will also run the 4x400 relay on Saturday at 5 pm CST. Beutler and Black will be joined by sophomores Francis Goins and Alex Kasemire for that event.
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