Jumbos Win Third Consecutive NESCAC Title

(4/27/2015 10:45 PM) Full Results

The Jumbos won their third straight NESCAC Championship this weekend, the longest streak for any program aside from host Williams College. In fact program besides Tufts and Williams has even won three NESCAC track titles EVER let alone three in a row. The team traveled to Williamstown and edged out the home team for the victory on Saturday. Though the squad came into the meet as the considerable underdog, the Jumbos performed incredibly well in every event group to bring home the threepeat.

On the track side, the event that got the momentum going for the Jumbos was the 3000m steeplechase, where the team went 1-2-5 and scored a total of 22 points. Sophomore Luke O’Connor won the race with a time of 9:24.18. Senior co-captain Marshall Pagano was second in 9:34.83 and freshman phenom Ty Enos was fifth in 9:40.9 to round out the highest-scoring event of the day for Tufts. Also on the distance side, Sophomore Tim Nichols and Junior Mitchell Black both had two of the more impressive doubles in Tufts NESCAC history. Nichols placed third in the 10,000m with a time of 31:13.65 and took fifth in the 5,000m in 15:04.12, and Black won the 800 in 1:52.03 and placed second in the 1,500 with a 3:50.70 finish. Black’s 1500m time ranks him as the second-fastest Jumbo ever in that event, behind only current coach and All-American Jamie Norton.

On the sprints end, Francis Goins had a particularly unbelievable day. The junior won the 200m with a time of 22.05 and placed fourth in the 400m in 49.72, both scoring from the unseeded sections. To win the 200m while seeded behind all 8 athletes in the fast heat is a tremendous achievement. Juniors Veer Bhalla and Alex Kasemir also helped secure points in the 400m as they placed 7th and 8th with times of 50.10 and 50.49, respectively. Third time was the charm for Kasemir, as he scored in the open 400m for the first time in the past three championships. Bryson Hoover-Hankerson first outperformed his seed to make finals in the 100m dash with a huge PR to place 4th and launch himself onto the top ten list. His run not only added points where Tufts was expected to score none, but pushed down a Purple Eph in the process, a valuable swing as the differential at the end of the day was a mere 5.33 points.

The 400 hurdle crew did fantastic as well. Freshman star Drew DiMaiti was the runner-up in the event in 54.54. He was followed by sophomore Nick Usoff who was third in 54.69, as both of those marks place them within the top ten all time for Tufts in the intermediate hurdles. Additionally, sophomore Henry Zhou had a huge PR as he was able to score for the Jumbos in the event, placing eighth in 55.77.

The Jumbos won the meet with a balanced attack, as they also performed extremely well across the field events. The high-jumpers gave the squad an early spark as all three athletes from Tufts scored points. Freshman standout Stefan Duvivier was second, clearing 6’4", and his classmate Linus Gordon cleared 6'2" for third place. Sophomore Thomas Wang tied for eighth with a clearance of 5’10’’ to give the team a critical 14.33 points. The frosh duo of Gordon and Duviver also added ten points to the Jumbos in the triple jump as Gordon placed third in the event with a jump of 44'4 1/4”, and Duvivier was fifth in 43'5 3/4". In addition, senior Allan Yau scored some points for the Jumbos, placing sixth in the long jump with a jump of 21'2 1/2”, a big PR for the decathlete.

The performances of the throwers, led by Usoff, contributed crucial points just they have for the past two titles. The sophomore, who ultimately competed in four different events both on the track and on the runway, won the javelin with a throw of 174’5”. Senior Patrick Haneberg massively outperformed his seed to place third in the event in 167'8" and junior Atticus Swett was seventh with a throw of 160’9’’. Swett came back and scored in two other events. He was also fifth in the discus throw (139’4”) and sixth in the shot put (44'10 1/4”). Senior co-captain Brian Williamson set a season best in the hammer throw with a heave of 172’7” to set the tone with a runner-up finish to start the throws, and later added an eighth in the discus with a throw of 132’6”.

The relays were critical in helping to secure the victory for the Jumbos, as the squad finished within the top five for all three. Most notably, the 4x400m relay of Usoff and juniors Bhalla, Kasemir and Goins placed second with a season-best time of 3:19.80.

Perhaps most impressive for the squad was how top-to-bottom, every single Jumbo contributed to the tone of selfless and team-first attitude regardless of whether or not they scored any points, everyone doing their part to keep the momentum rolling. Behind Nichols, all three 10K runners notched season or personal bests in the event, also true for Joe St. Pierre and Sam Little in the 1500. Non-scoring throwers Corey Burns and Ife Adebayo both PR'ed, and every bar cleared by decathletes Yau and Alex Karys in the pole vault gave the group something high to ignite their attention and energy. Alex Apostolides took the pace out in the 800m for his senior teammate Evan Cover, leading him to a seasonal PR.

Hoover-Hankerson joined Goins to PR in the 200m and qualify for DIII New Englands, as did James Traester in the 5K after switching gears from early-season 1500s. While Senior Colin McCrory did not run a season-best, his pace-pushing through the middle of the 5K helped stretch the pack out and thin the top group to fewer runners for his teammates to contend with. Through their victorious efforts, the Jumbos proved that all of the tough workouts, early morning and late PM lifts, and especially regular season meets in snowy or windy conditions were well worth it. Though there is still some obvious excitement among the team, the Jumbos are eager to get back to work and help defend their title next year. Up next for qualifiers is DIII New Englands, held at MIT from Thursday to Saturday.


Full Results