With the NCAA Championships looming on May 26-28, the Jumbos accumulated numerous impressive individual marks and finished 10th out of the 22 teams that scored at the New England Open Championships on May 13-14 at Southern Conn. State. The team additionally finished third at the Div. III New England Championships a week earlier at MIT and many athletes also competed last weekend at ECACs at Moravian College, but results for that meet were not available at press time.
The Jumbos faced stiff competition at the New England Opens against Div. I and Div. II athletes, but still were able to hold their own.
Rising senior Nakeisha Jones continued her late-season push in the national rankings, triple jumping a season-best 39-3 3/4. The mark moved her up to seventh in the nation. Graduating senior tri-captain Kanku Kabongo also had a successful day in the triple jump with a mark of 38-0, which qualified her provisionally for NCAAs and ranked her 19th nationally. The pair finished third and seventh, respectively, in the event. Kabongo also earned a fifth-place finish in the long jump with a distance of 18-3.
Strength in the field events did not stop there. Rising junior Kelly Allen continued her dominance in throwing events, winning the discus throw with a distance of 144-5. Allen also earned seventh place in the shot put with a throw of 41-10 and eighth in the hammer with a throw of 159-9. Despite her success, Allen hopes to make improvements in the coming weeks in the discus, for which she has already automatically qualified for Nationals.
"In discus, I still need to work on my consistency," Allen said. "I usually have one big throw a meet which is great, but I need to be able to hit the right form more than once a meet in order to give myself a better chance at throwing farther."
Rising senior Ronke Oyekunle and rising junior Sabienne Brutus joined Allen at the competition. Oyekunle finished right behind Allen with an eighth-place finish in the shot put, throwing 41-8 1/2. In the hammer throw, Brutus and Oyekunle finished in 21st and 22nd with throws of 130-7 and 127-4, respectively.
Rising senior Heather Theiss added to the field tally by finishing eighth in the pole vault with a vault of 11-5 3/4.
On the track, graduating senior Amy Wilfert finished fifth in the 3,000-meter steeplechase with a personal best of 10:50.16. The mark improved her previous NCAA provisional qualifier and moved her up to 14th on the national rankings. Wilfert, however, believes her time can improve even more with more experience in the event.
"I was hoping that the more I ran the race, the more efficient my water jump would become," Wilfert said. "I didn't have to run quite as fast between the barriers to make up the time I lose. If I can improve my water jump, I think I can save a lot of energy elsewhere in the race."
Rising sophomore Jana Hieber continued her quest for an automatic bid to NCAAs in the 400-meter hurdles. She finished third in the event, running a 1:02.65 and again just missing out on the 1:02.00 mark necessary for qualification.
At Div. IIIs at MIT, Tufts finished third overall with 96 total points. The host Engineers defended their track, winning the meet with 141.5 points.
A familiar group of athletes scored points for Tufts and propelled the Jumbos to their third-place finish.
Allen provided 30 points out of the total 96. She won the discus (147-10), the shot put (41-8 3/4), and the hammer throw (158-7), establishing herself as the best Div. III thrower in the region.
"I had a good day, and winning all the events was great," Allen said. "I didn't [set a] PR in any of them, but I still had very solid throws in each one."
The fourth victory for the Jumbos came from Wilfert, who won the steeplechase in 10:54.42, easily outdistancing the rest of the field.
In the 400-meter hurdles, Hieber recorded her best time of the season thus far and placed second overall. The time (1:02.59) ranks her 16th nationally.
"I think that Jana can hit an [automatic] qualifier this year as a freshman and that is a great sign for her future," Wilfert said. "It really shows what a great athlete she is and how talented she is. She has gotten so close so many times this season, and I think she has it in her."
Jones also recorded a second-place finish in the triple jump with a distance of 39-0 1/2. Kabongo was just behind in fourth with a jump of 37-10. Kabongo also added a second-place finish in the long jump, launching herself 18-0 3/4.
Theiss finished fifth in the pole vault, clearing 11-7 3/4, a provisional qualifying jump that puts her in 18th on the national list.
