WILLIAMSTOWN, MA (April 26, 2026) – The Tufts University women's outdoor track & field team won its first New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) championship since 2013 on Sunday, as the Jumbos won four events and pulled away from the pack to capture the program's fifth conference title overall.
Simi Lawal,
Arielle Chechile and
Emma Gall won individual conference titles today, and the 4x100-meter relay also won as Tufts was first in six events overall at the two-day meet. That's the most individual and relay wins by the Jumbos at a NESCAC Championship meet since 2015. Chechile, Gall and the 4x1 all broke meet records with their victories today.
Tufts finished with a team score of 152.5 to win the conference championship ahead of host and runner-up Williams College (135), third-place Amherst College (131) and Middlebury College in fourth place (124).
The Jumbos' 4x1 relay set the tone early, with
Lauren Zipoli,
Makayla Moriarty, Chechile and Lawal running a time of 46.51 seconds to win the event. The victorious time broke the two-year old NESCAC meet record of 46.61 set by Colby College in 2024. The Jumbo foursome defeated Colby's national top 10 4x1 today, as the Mules were the runner-up in the race at 46.80 seconds. Tufts' mark is #2 all-time at Tufts and #6 nationally as of early Sunday evening.
Later, with less than a handful of events remaining, Gall led four Jumbo pole vaulters who combined to score 22 points in the event. In a stunning performance, Gall won the event at 3.82m (12'6 ¼") and then went on to clear a Tufts outdoor and NESCAC meet record of 3.87m (12'8 ¼") on her third attempt. Both records had been held by Kelsie Hao, who had a 3.85m (12'7 ½") during a fifth year of eligibility at Tufts in 2023 and a 3.81m (12'6") to win NESCAC's while an undergraduate at Williams in 2019. Gall's winning mark today ranks 12th in the nation as of Sunday evening, and is Tufts' first NESCAC pole vault win since Hao also in 2023.
Also scoring in the pole vault for Tufts was
Lena Tang in fourth place (3.45m – 11'3 ¾") and
Valia Droulia and
Elena Clark tying for fifth place with their 3.30m (10'10") marks. With the 22 team points scored by the pole vaulters, the Jumbos built a margin of more than 27 team points over second-place Williams heading into the final three events which helped the Jumbos secure the victory.
Lawal was just shy of the conference meet record (11.76) while winning the 100-meter dash today in 11.79 seconds. She's the first Jumbo sprinter to win the 100 since Alexis Harrison in 2016. Chechile also ran a PR of 12.09 seconds in the 100 final for third place, giving her the #3 ranking all-time at Tufts and a top 50 national ranking.
Shortly after, Chechile then won the 400-meter hurdles with a 1:00.04 time that is a new meet record. The previous mark was a 1:00.54 set by Colby's Fiona Mejico last year. Chechile is Tufts' first 400-meter hurdles conference champ since Jana Hieber won in 2014. Senior
Anne-Sophie Janssen added an eighth-place finish in the 400 hurdles final with a 1:05.17 time.
In the 200 meters, Lawal lowered her own school record with a time of 24.27 seconds while finishing in second place. The time is at #11 in the national rankings on Sunday evening. Zipoli was eighth in the 200 meters final at 25.92 seconds.
Zipoli's versatility at the meet was a big factor for the Jumbos, as she competed in five events overall. Third in the long jump on Friday and the leadoff leg for the victorious 4x1 early in Sunday's action, she also ran 14.74 in the 100-meter hurdles final on Sunday for another third-place finish. She also just missed scoring in the high jump today, where she was among 12 individuals who capped at 1.53m (5'0 ¼").
Moriarty also added clutch third-place points in the 400 meters, where her 56.70-second time was her season best. It's at #41 on the national list.
Jackie Wells's third-place javelin throw of 41.36m (135'8") led three Jumbos who scored in the event.
Harper Danforth placed fifth (38.70m – 127'0") and
Isabella Romero was seventh (35.96m – 118'0").
Tufts also received some significant fourth- and fifth-place scores today. First-year
Lily Simmonds was fourth (4:33.84) in the 1500 meters, where her season-best time in the event puts her into the Tufts top 10 and at #33 nationally. Another fourth-place score came from the 4x800-meter relay (9:13.38). Running the 4x8 for the first time this year, the foursome was
Julia Dolce - who also had a 4:36.18 PR for eighth in the 1500 – along with
Kaya West,
Kayleigh Forde and Simmonds. First-year
Zui Chinchalkar ran 17:22.61 in the 5000 meters for fifth place.
Also contributing to the victory was
Nora Jean-Jacques, who scored fifth in the triple jump with an 11.36m (37'3 ¼") best mark.
Lexi King tied for sixth place in the high jump with a 1.53m (5'0 ¼") mark.
Julia Saporito placed seventh in the discus throw at 37.22m (122'1"). The 4x4 of Chechile,
Cori Stewart,
Camilla Brewer and
Logan Elie had a 4:01.99 finish that was eighth.
Narrowly missing scoring in the 3000-meter steeplechase was
Grace Doyle, who finished ninth with an 11:35.35 time.
Championship season continues for the Jumbos next Friday and Saturday (May 1-2) at the New England Division III Championships hosted by Springfield College.
--JUMBOS--
