TROY, NY - While only a handful of athletes competed, the Jumbo men's track and field team was still able to place 24th of 57 teams in the ECAC Championship at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute on Thursday and Friday.
SUNY Oneonta won the meet with 63 points. Bates (60), RPI (46), MIT (46) and Brockport State (45) rounded out the top-five. The Jumbos tallied 10 points.
Six of those points came from the 4x400 meter relay team of sophomores Veer Bhalla, Mitch Black, Alex Kasemir and Francis Goins. The quartet notched the highest finish of the day for the Jumbos, but they were unable to improve on their season-best mark of 3:17.91. The squad's time of 3:19.31 landed them in third place.
Undoubtedly the group missed the performance of senior Graham Beutler, who is recovering from a hamstring injury. The All-American was in action in the open 400 meters on Friday for the last time in a Tufts uniform, but he was not at full strength as he placed 24th in a time of 52.37.
Bhalla had a busy meet, as he competed in the 800 meters in hopes of improving his season-best of 1:52.64. His time of 1:53.42 on Friday was well off that mark, as he settled for seventh.
In the circle, junior Brian Williamson also notched a seventh-place showing, as he launched the shot put 51' 7 ¼" (15.76m). His season-best mark of 53' 0 ¼" (16.16m) ranks 18th nationally entering this week. In the hammer, Williamson's toss of 160' 3 ½" (48.86m) was good enough for 14th.
Next week, Black (800) will be joined by seniors Jamie Norton (1,500) and Ben Wallis (Steeplechase) in the NCAA Championship at Ohio Wesleyan University. Williamson has a solid chance of qualifying in the shot put, but his status likely won't be certain until official seeds are announced by the NCAA.
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