NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The Tufts University men's outdoor track & field team placed among the top 10 teams at the all-divisions New England Intercollegiate Amateur Athletic Association (NEICAAA) Championships that finished up Saturday at Southern Connecticut State University.
The Jumbos totaled 33 points for ninth place. They were just one point behind the top-scoring Division III team from Middlebury (34). Host Southern Connecticut won the meet with a 112 score.
After scoring 14 points on Friday, the Jumbos added 19 in Saturday's events. Senior Charles Pennington had the highest Jumbo finish on the day with a fourth in the high jump. He cleared the bar at 6'5" (1.96m), a team season-best.
Senior Josh Etkind posted a season-best 14.54 in the 110-meter hurdles to score four fifth-place points for Tufts. His marked improved his national ranking to 12th as of 11:30 pm Saturday evening.
In the sprints, senior Anthony Kardonsky scored in both the 100 and 200 finals. He ran 21.75, just shy of his 21.71 career-best, in the 200 for sixth place. He was sixth in the 100 as well with a 10.89 finish.
Junior Kevin Quisumbing had his best shot put performance of the season, posting a 51'8 ½" (15.76m) best. It was seventh at the meet, is also a team season-best and ranks 30th nationally.
Freshman Ben Stein continues to impress, recording a seventh-place finish in the decathlon with a 6,185 score. It's ranked #25 on the DIII list for the event. He had PR's in four of his five events on Saturday, including a 4:24.46 in the 800 meters where he scored 781 points.
Tufts had a top 10 finish in the 4x4 where freshmen Riley Patten and Sam Oomen-Lochtefeld ran with junior Billy Witrock and senior Tom Doyle. The foursome combined for a 3:21.02 finish at the New England all-divisions meet.
