SPRINGFIELD, MA (May 2, 2026) – Sophomore
Luke Benson won the triple jump today as the Tufts University men's track & field team finished fifth at the 2026 New England Division III Outdoor Championships hosted by Springfield College.
Like his teammate
Casey Lambert did in the long jump on Friday, Benson became the first Jumbo in more than 20 years to win the New England Division III outdoor triple jump. His best mark of 14.33m (47'0 ¼") edged MIT's Sean Huckleberry (14.32m – 46'11 ¾") for the victory. Benson's season-best mark ranks him #32 in the nation as of Saturday evening. He is Tufts' first New England D3 outdoor triple jump winner since Fred Jones 22 years ago in 2004.
The completion of the decathlon today had two Jumbos scoring, as sophomore
Dylan Moreno placed fourth and junior
Ryder Kropiwnicki was sixth. Moreno's 5782 career-best score earned him a spot in Tufts' all-time top 10, and is right at the #50 mark nationally. He tied his personal-best of 17.05 in the 110-meter hurdles and hit his PR at 28.60m (93'10") for the discus throw today. Kropiwnicki won the 110-hurdles among the decathlon field at 15.55 seconds and was second in the javelin (45.92m – 150'8") while accumulating 5384 points despite not scoring in the pole vault.
Junor
Sami Witta scored five fourth-place points for Tufts by earning his season-best mark in the high jump. He cleared 1.97m (6'5 ½"). Freshman
Jonathan Bailey also scored in the 110-meter hurdles, where his time of 14.84 seconds was fifth in today's final. The mark is his season-best and improves his #6 all-time ranking at Tufts.
Also on Saturday at the meet, freshman
Eliot Monick ran his season-best time of 54.92 seconds to place ninth in the 400-meter hurdles. Junior
Brady Kamali was also close to a scoring position in the 400 meters where his 49.81 was 10th, as was senior
Calvin Cummings in the 3000-meter steeplechase (9:53.19 for 11th place).
Resting several of their top performers today, the Jumbos finished with a team score of 48 points for fifth overall. WPI won the regional championship with a 115 score.
On the Tufts schedule for next week is the New England Intercollegiate Amateur Athletic Association Championships and the F.I.R.E. Meet at Williams College.
--JUMBOS--
