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| Benji Wallace improved his PR in the pole vault to 15'11 1/4" (4.86m) today. |
NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Senior co-captain Henry Hintermeister of the Tufts University men's outdoor track & field team broke his own school record in the javelin throw on the first day of the New England Intercollegiate Amateur Athletic Association (NEICAAA) Championships Friday at Southern Connecticut State University.
On his fifth of six throws, Hintermeister sent a 202'11" (61.85m) missle down the field to top his previous school mark of 198'4" (60.45m) from last year. Today's distance was well beyond the 191'4" (58.33m) season-best he had previously set this spring. He was fourth at the meet, which features competitors from Divisions I, II and III. It's the first javelin throw in Tufts history to top 200 feet and it's ranked sixth nationally as of 10 pm Friday night.
Senior co-captain Benji Wallace also had a career-best in the pole vault, clearing the bar at 15'11 ¼" (4.86m) to finish as the runner-up at the meet. He had hit his previous PR of 15'9" (4.80m) earlier this year, but today's effort improved his national ranking to 11th.
In the 110-meter hurdles today, senior Josh Etkind had a season-best time of 14.55 seconds in the preliminaries to qualify for tomorrow's final. He was fifth in the prelims with a time that improved his ranking to 11th in Division III.
In another strong senior performance, Anthony Kardonsky qualified for the final (top eight) in both the 100 meters at 10.98 seconds and in the 200 at 21.84 seconds. He was fourth in the prelims in the 100 and snagged the final qualifying spot (eighth) in the 2.
Senior Dylan Jones scored a point for Tufts in the 10,000 meters with his eighth-place time of 32:34.75.
Freshman Riley Patten had a season-best in the 400 hurdles with a 54.72 finish that is a top 50 national time. Classmate Ben Stein is halfway through the decathlon with 3,209 points. He had season-bests in the 100 meters (11.81) and shot put (31'10 ¼" – 9.71m). His top point total was 736 for a 21'10 3/4" (6.67m) long jump. Standings for the decathlon through five events were not available.
With the 14 team points scored by Wallace, Hintermeister and Jones, Tufts is seventh at the meet through six events. Host Southern Connecticut leads with a 38 score.
The NEICAAA meet continues on Saturday starting at 10 am.
