CLINTON, N.Y. – The Tufts University men's outdoor track & field team won the NESCAC Championship on Saturday, out-scoring Williams College 177.5 to 164. The Jumbos won eight individual titles.
The conference championship is Tufts' sixth overall, and first since they won three in a row from 2013-15. In addition to the eight wins, the Jumbos had three runner-up performances and three third-place finishers. Each of those Tufts competitors earns All-Conference recognition.
Luke Botsford won the 200 meters in 21.40 seconds and the 400 meters in 48.15 seconds. The 200 time broke his own school record and is ranked #10 nationally. The 400 time, just a tick off his 48.14 career best, ranks 11th in Division III.
Tufts received a tremendous performance from its throwers. Eric Meyer won both the hammer (49.29m – 161'8") and the discus (40.14m – 131'8"), and Petey Lemmon was first in the shot put at 14.75m (48'4 ¾") and the runner-up in the discus at 39.76m (130'5 ½"). Meyer's hammer throw and both of Lemmon's throws are career-bests. Tufts had four scorers in the discus, including three of the top four as Dylan Daisey was fourth at 38.93m (127'8").
Harry Rienecker-Found in the high jump and Drew Svoboda in the long jump both kept their outstanding years going with big victories today. Rienecker-Found cleared 2.04m (6'8 ¼"), which ranks 11th nationally and is his outdoor best. Svoboda's 7.33m (24'0 ¾") distance is a PR and 14th-best in the country. It wasn't far off the 7.35m (24'1 ¼") school record by Jeff Soderquist from 1996.
Ryan Proulx delivered a win in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, where his 9:22.34 time is #31 nationally and was a 20-second PR. Even better, Ivan Appleton was the runner-up in the race with a 9:28.30 finish that was a 27-second PR and near the DIII top 40. Proulx also added to Tufts' 4x800-meter relay runner-up finish of 7:50.90. He was joined by Josh Schwartz, Chris Tilton and Nick Delaney.
Tommy Bhangdia hit a big PR in the long jump of 7.01m (23'0"), third at the meet and top 50 in DIII. Willy White's 14.94 in the 100-meter hurdles was also quite better than his previous best (15.30) and is among the national top 50. Alex Lemieux added a 21.93 in the 200, another of four events where Tufts had two in the top three.
Other key finishes for Tufts were Sawyer Wilson and Nick Delaney going 4-5 in the 800 with 1:53.48 and 1:53.70 times (both PRs), Sam Gatti taking fourth in the 5,000 meters (14:48.21), Jay Sharma producing a pair of fifths in the 110-meter (15.45) and 400-meter (55.69) hurdles, Alex Zsikla landing fourth in the triple jump (a national top 40 PR of 13.96m - 45'9 3/4") and Louis Tuccio's fourth in the shot put at 13.80m (45'3 1/2").
Hamilton College was the host of today's meet.
