WAVERLY, IOWA – Junior Tim Nichols of the Tufts men's outdoor track & field team ran an All-American performance in the 10,000 meters on the first day of the 2016 NCAA Division III Championships Thursday at Wartburg College.
Also on Thursday, Tufts junior Luke O'Connor qualified for the NCAA 3,000-meter steeplechase final with a very competitive race in the preliminaries.
Nichols posted a time of 31:20.15 for sixth place in the 10 K, earning an All-American top-eight finish. It was his second All-American race of 2015-16. Back in the fall, he was 17th at the NCAA Men's Cross Country Championship to take one of the top 35 All-American finishes.
The sixth-place finish today is Nichols' first track All-American accolade. He was the 12th seed entering the race, but ran into All-American territory with over 20 seconds to spare. This was the first outdoor NCAA meet in which Nichols had quailed. He ran at NCAA Indoors last March and was 11th in the 5K.
O'Connor was just 0.12 away from the top time in the 3000S preliminaries today. His 9:12.66 was fourth in the fast first heat. Jared Schatz from Messiah won the heat in 9:12.54. Adam Togami from Wabash (9:12.57) and Lukas Mees from Emory (9:12.63) were also in front of O'Connor in the heat. The top five from each of the two heats plus the next four best times advanced for a 14-man final on Saturday at 1:30 pm ET. O'Connor had qualified for the NCAA race with a 9:04.53 time which was 11th on the performance list.
Making his first appearance at the NCAA Outdoor meet, O'Connor will be competing for his first All-American honor (top eight) on Saturday. He made his first trip to NCAA's this past March at the 2016 indoor meet and placed 14th in the 5,000 meters. He has also competed at the NCAA Cross Country meet.
Earlier on Thursday, Jumbo sophomore Andrew DiMaiti competed in the NCAA 400-meter hurdles and posted a time of 54.81 seconds in the prelims. He was not one of the eight to advance to the final, placing 18th overall.
Wisconsin-Platteville's Ian LaMere won the NCAA 10,000 meters national title with a 30:21.40 time.
With the three points scored by Nichols in the 10K, Tufts is tied for 15th after one day at the NCAA meet.
Mitchell Black and Veer Bhalla will be in action tomorrow in the 800 meters preliminaries for the Jumbos. The event starts at 6:45 pm ET.
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