WILLIAMSTOWN - The Tufts University men's outdoor track & field team won its third straight NESCAC championship this afternoon at the 2015 meet hosted by Williams College. The Jumbos edged the Ephs with a 169.333 final score.
Tufts received wins from junior Francis Goins in the 200, senior Mitchell Black in the 800, sophomore Luke O'Connor in the 3,000-meter steeplechase and sophomore Nick Usoff in the javelin throw. As is their tradition, the Jumbos filled up the results sheet with strong scoring performances across the event spectrum to repeat as champions.
Head coach Ethan Barron's team became the first squad other than Williams to win three NESCAC crowns in a row. Today they did so by defeating the host Ephs, who scored 164 points.
Black repeated as the conference 800 champion, running a 1:52.03 time. He was also the runner-up in the 1,500 with a 3:50.70 finish. That time moved him into the #9 spot nationally in the 15.
Usoff may have been the MVP by scoring in four events. He led three Jumbo scorers in the javelin throw with his first career conference win. His 174'5" (53.17m) distance was followed by senior Patrick Haneberg in third at 167'8" (51.11m) and junior Atticus Swett in seventh (160'9" / 49.00m).
Like several Jumbos, Goins had a strong double. In addition to winning the 200 (22.05), he took fourth in the 400 with a finishing time of 49.72 seconds.
O'Connor scored twice in the distance events. His winning time of 9:24.18 in the 3,000-meter steeplechase led three Jumbos in the top five. Senior Marshall Pagano (9:34.83) was second and freshman Ty Enos (9:40.91) was fifth. Tufts scored 22 points in the event. Pagano's runner-up showing was one of six by Tufts competitors.
Sophomore Tim Nichols joined the club by finishing top five in both the 5,000 and 10,000. He was third in the 10K at 31:13.65 and took fifth in the 5K (15:04.12). He was the only runner in the meet to finish among the top five in the two long-distance events. O'Connor was behind him for seventh in the 5,000 (15:07.98).
Freshman Andrew DiMaiti's second-place in the 400-meter hurdles led three Tufts scorers who totaled 15 points in the event. DiMaiti finished in 54.54 seconds, Usoff was third at 54.69 seconds and sophomore Henry Zhou placed eighth (55.77).
Swett scored in three throwing events. He was also fifth in the discus throw at 139'4" (42.46m) and sixth in the shot put (44'10 1/4" - 13.67m). Senior co-captain Brian Williamson scored second for Tufts in the hammer throw with a 172'7" (52.61m) best. He also added a point in the discus throw wtih a 132'6" (40.38) distance for eighth.
The high jump was another event where Tufts had three of the top eight. Freshman Stefan Duvivier was second, clearing 6'4" (1.93m). Classmate Linus Gordon succeeded at 6'2" (1.88m) for third place. Sophomore Thomas Wang tied for eighth (5'10" / 1.78m).
Gordon and Duvivier added 10 points in the triple jump. Gordon took the lead on this one with a 44'4 1/4" (13.52m) for third place while Duvivier was fifth at 43'5 3/4" (13.25m). Senior Allan Yau added three runway points with a sixth in the long jump, going 21'2 1/2" (6.46m).
Tufts was top five in all three relays. The 4x4 was runner-up as junior Veer Bhalla, Usoff, junior Alex Kasemir and Goins combined on a 3:19.80 finish. Junior Bryson Hoover-Hankerson, Usoff, DiMaiti and Goins ran a 43.07 in the 4x1 for third. The 4x8 team of freshman Peter McCawley, freshman Chris Gregory, Bhalla and senior Alex Sheltzer were fifth with a 7:59.16 finish.
Bhalla and Kasemir also scored points behind Goins in the 400, running seventh (50.10) and eighth (50.59) respectively. Hoover-Hankerson scored fourth in the 100 meters (11.13).
In all, 22 Jumbos contributed to the team scoring.
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