Botsford's Two Victories Lead Men's Track & Field Runner-Up Finish at New England DIII's

BOSTON, MA (February 25, 2024) - Senior Luke Botsford won a pair of races, set a school record and scored in three events to help the Tufts University men's indoor track & field team place second at the New England Division III Championships today.

The Jumbos totaled 106.5 team points, trailing only New England champion MIT which won the competition with a 154 score. The second-place finish is Tufts' best at the meet since 2019.

Botsford's 21.53 time to win the 200 meters is a new school record and ranks 11th nationally in Division III. He also won the 400 meters with a 48.02 mark, which matches his season- and career indoor-best. He also scored seventh in the 60-meter dash (6.96 seconds) to total 22 points scored for the team.

Junior Ivan Appleton also broke a school record with his 8:15.80 for third place in the 3000 meters today. The mark ranks 31st nationally.

Harry Rienecker-Found led an extraordinary performance by the Jumbo high jumpers. Tufts had four of the top five scorers in the event. Rienecker-Found cleared a season-best 2.05m (6'8 ¾"), which was second at the meet and is ranked #11 in the nation. Edward Kiboma's collegiate-best 2.02m (6'7 ½") was third at the meet and is #24 in Division III. Sami Witta's 1.97m (6'5 ½") was a season-best and fourth in the meet, white Karsten Kropp topped out at 1.92m (6'3 ½") for fifth place.

Tufts was the runner-up in the 4x400-meter relay, with the line-up of Noah Turner, Alex Lemieux, Ethan Forde and Neil Chowdhury finishing in a 3:18.82 mark. The Jumbos also ran third in the distance medley relay, where Quinn Hampson, Forde, Ryan Proulx and Will Cusato had a 10:16.68 finish.

Sophomore Sahr Matturi was fourth in both the long and triple jumps with great leaps. His 13.87m (45'6 ¼") in the triple jump is a collegiate PR, and the 6.88m (22'7") for the long jump is his indoor season-best.

Behind Botsford in the 400, the Jumbos also got points from Chowdhury in fourth place at 49.05 seconds and from Turner in seventh (49.55).

Led by Appleton, the Jumbos stockpiled points through the middle distance and distance events. Cam McLeod ran fifth in the 600 meters with a 1:22.38 PR. Jackson O'Toole's 1:54.36 was an indoor PR and eighth in the 800 meters race. Simon Donovan was sixth for the 1000 meters in a 2:32.38 time, and Luke Brennan's 14:48.90 PR in the 5000 was also sixth.

Ryder Kropiwnicki cleared 4.54m (14'10 ¾") in the pole vault to place sixth. Louis Tuccio added an eighth-place in the shot put with a 14.35m (47'1") heave.

Tufts had entered Sunday with 10 points for Carter Rosewell's heptathlon victory earlier in the weekend, his second in a row at the New England Division III meet.

Next week members of the Tufts team will be back at The TRACK at New Balance for the New England Intercollegiate Amateur Athletic Association (NEICAAA) Championships on Friday and Saturday (Mar. 1-2).