Strength Across Events, Four Victories Highlight Jumbos' 2nd Place Finish at DIIIs

(2/26/2014 8:36 AM) Full Results

The Jumbos competed at the first championship meet of the season this past weekend - the Division III New Englands. With All-New England performances in the throws, sprints, mid-distance, distance, multi events, and all three relays, nationally 9th-ranked Tufts placed second to 7th-ranked MIT 138-94.

Andrew Osborne ’14 and Alex Karys ’16 started off the meet on Friday by competing in the first four of their seven events in the heptathlon. Both battled well through their additional three events on Saturday and earned All-New England honors, as Osborne took fifth with a score of 4376 points, while Karys took sixth with 4297 points. Their strong start set the tone for the rest of the meet.

Mid-D propelled the Jumbos to 20 of their points, as Veer Bhalla ’16 took the 600 meter crown in a new school record in 1:20.46. Bhalla was in second place until about 200 meters to go, when he separated from USM Junior Kevin Desmond to take both 10 points and a new school record. His training partner, Mitch Black ’16, also earned himself a New England title in the 800 meters as well. Black, who still holds the number one time in the nation in the 800 meters this season, made the race an exciting one as he just held off Bowdoin sophomore Jacob Ellis at the line, winning in 1:53.99. Bhalla and Black later returned with Alex Apostolides ’16 and tri-captain Jamie Norton ‘14 to give the Jumbos six more points in the 4x800 meter relay, as they placed third in 7:53.18.

In the sprints, Graham Beutler ’14 again showed why he is the top sprinter in the region as he easily took the 200 meter dash, winning in 22.42 seconds. Francis Goins ’16 ran a 50.34 second 400 meter dash to take fifth in the event, giving the Jumbos four more points. Beutler and Goins later returned with Nick Usoff ’17 and Alex Kasemir ’14 to win the 4x400 meter relay, running 3:21.64 for the win.

In the distance events, Norton grabbed a second place finish in the mile, as he finished right behind last year’s NCAA runner-up, Ryan Widzgowski of Keene State. Norton ran 4:13.15 to grab eight points for the Jumbos. Tri-captain Ben Wallis ’14, who was fighting off a stomach bug the entire week, gave it his all in the 3000 meters, and was able to finish sixth by running 8:42.33. Classmate Andrew Shapero ’14 was able to hang well in the 5000 meters, as he unleashed a monstrous kick in the final 200 meters to take second in 15:02.85.

Brian Williamson ’15 and Atticus Swett ’16 also helped shrink the MIT/Tufts score difference by placing highly in the shot put. Williamson threw a PR of over two feet to take third place, heaving the shot put 53’5.5” and launching himself into the top twenty across the country. Swett placed right behind him in fourth with a 48’5.5” throw.

The Jumbos will hope to continue this momentum further into the postseason and into the outdoor season. They will next compete at the Open New England meet, held this weekend on Friday and Saturday at Boston University.


Full Results