BRUNSWICK, Maine - Six Jumbos won conference titles as the Tufts University men's outdoor track & field team placed second at the 2017 New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) Championship on Saturday at Bowdoin College.
Senior tri-captain Luke O'Connor won his third straight conference title in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. Junior Stefan Duvivier repeated as the NESCAC high jump winner. Sophomore Anthony Kardonsky, part of Tufts' 4x100-meter relay champions last season, won the 100-meter dash individually today. Senior Tim Nichols in the 10,000 meters, sophomore Josh Etkind in the 110-meter hurdles and junior Andrew DiMaiti in the 400-meter hurdles all won their first NESCAC crowns.
With an 8:58.46 to win the steeplechase, O'Connor ran the first sub-9:00 time of his career. Already ranked #1 in the nation for the event entering today's meet, he improved upon his previous season-best mark of 9:03.24 by almost five seconds. He also scored fourth in the 5,000 meter run with a 15:05.99 finish for an impressive double.
Nichols also doubled impressively. His 10K win came in 30:47.31, and later on in the meet he was the runner-up in the 5,000 (14:54.20). Etkind's win in the 110 hurdles was also part of his scoring tandem. His 14.53 time in the hurdles was just 0.07 off his 14.46 school-record and was the facility record at Bowdoin's Magee-Samuelson Track as well as a NESCAC Championship meet record. He also had a fifth in the triple jump, matching his season-best at 45'10 1/2" (13.98m).
The Jumbos scored biggest in the 100 dash and in the 400 hurdles. Kardonsky's 10.85 win in the 100 led four Jumbos who combined to score 21 points in the event. Freshman Robert Jones was third (10.99), sophomore Tommy Miller was sixth (11.18) and sophomore Brandon Levenstein took seventh (11.23). DiMaiti won the 400 hurdles in 54.15 seconds, followed by teammate Nick Usoff as the runner-up (55.05). Freshman Billy Witrock in fifth (56.30) and sophomore Henry Hintermeister in seventh (57.17) helped the Jumbos score 24 points in the event. Kardonsky's and DiMaiti's winning times were both facility records.
Duvivier cleared 6'6" (1.98m) to win the high jump again. Junior Linus Gordon added seventh-place points in the HJ (6'0" - 1.83m) and also had a sixth behind Etkind in the triple with a 44'11 1/2" (13.70m) best.
Tufts' 164 total points were just 11 behind conference champion Wiliams College's 175. Host Bowdoin was third with a 110 score.
The Jumbo relays added 20 points to the team total. The 4x1 of junior Patrick Milne, Miller, Kardonsky and Jones was the runner-up in 42.15 seconds. Freshman Jordan Abate, Witrock, sophomore Thomas Doyle and DiMaiti combined on a 3:21.90 in the 4x4 for third place. Tufts was also third in the 4x800 with the foursome of sophomore Christian Swenson, sophomore Colin Raposo, freshman Jackson Mihm and sophomore Hiroto Watanabe (7:51.01).
DiMaiti led three Jumbos in the top eight for the 400 meters (nine points) with a 49.14 time. Abate was seventh in 49.47 and Doyle followed him for eighth in 49.62 seconds.
Graduate student Ife Adebayo scored in two events as the throwers contributed 22 points. He was sixth in the hammer throw at 155'1" (47.28m) and seventh in the shot put with 45'2 1/2" (13.78m) distance. Graduate student Michael Paloian had the highest throwing finish for Tufts with a third in the discus, spinning it 141'6" (43.12m). Freshman Kevin Quisumbing was fifth in the shot put (46'8 3/4" - 14.24m). Like in the shot, two Jumbos scored in the javelin throw as Hintermeister was fourth with a 178'8" (54.47m) launch and Usoff placed seventh in 166'6" (50.74m).
Other Jumbos scoring included Raposo's sixth in the 1,500 meters (3:55.33), sophomore Ben Wallace with 13'5 1/4" (4.10m) pole vault clearance for seventh place and junior Shant Mahrokhian reaching an eighth-best 21'1 1/4" (6.43m) in the long jump.
The Jumbos will compete at the New England Division III Championships next weekend at Williams College.
Jumbo tri-captains Tom Wang, Luke O'Connor and Nick Usoff with the NESCAC runner-up plaque and Bowdoin Athletic Director Tim Ryan
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