The Jumbos were able to win five individual titles and place third overall as a team at the NESCAC Championships, hosted by Wesleyan on Saturday.
Williams took home the team title, earning 194 points and comfortably outdistancing itself from second place Middlebury, which had 163 points. Tufts finished third with 131 points, well ahead of fourth-place Colby.
As usual, the field events provided much of the Jumbos' firepower, with sophomore Kelly Allen leading the way. Allen won her second straight NESCAC title in the discus throw with an NCAA automatic-qualifying throw that is also a NESCAC record. Her throw of 152-4 was almost 14 feet ahead of the second-place finisher and ranks her fourth nationally, though her huge effort in her favorite event tired her out a bit for her other competitions.
"At some point when I was warming up for discus, I decided that everything before that didn't matter," Allen said. "I am really confident in discus, and I knew I had the opportunity to do really well in it. I didn't want to let the other events get to me."
Even though Allen wasn't at her best, she still led the way for the Jumbos in the hammer throw, finishing third overall with a throw of 149-2. Sophomore Sabienne Brutus was right behind in fourth place with a throw of 148-0. Freshman Robin Armstrong scored in the javelin, finishing seventh with a throw of 106-03, while Allen did not place.
Highlighting the Jumbos excellent performances in the throwing events was the one-two finish by sophomore Ronke Oyekunle and Allen in the shot put. They both threw the same distance of 42-03 1/4, but Oyekunle won the tiebreaker by virtue of her second-best throw besting Allen's. The distance they both threw is a provisional qualifying mark for ECACs and ranks them tied for 21st nationally.
"It is awesome how strong we are as a throwing squad," Allen said. "Ronke, Sabienne and I are all qualified for ECACs. This weekend showed how much work we've put in, and now it's starting to pay off."
The Jumbos excelled in the jumping events as well. Junior Nakeisha Jones won the triple jump with 38-9 1/2, over a foot ahead of the second-place finisher. The jump improved her provisional qualifying mark and leaves her ranked ninth nationally.
A national-qualifier during the indoor season, junior Heather Theiss tied for second in the pole vault with a vault of 10-10.
Senior tri-captain Kanku Kabongo finished fourth in the triple jump with a jump of 36-06 1/4 and third in the long jump with a jump of 17-0 3/4 and seventh in the 100-meter dash in 13.18 seconds. She also ran the leadoff leg of the fifth-place 4x100-meter relay team, along with sophomore Alyssa Corrigan, freshman Colleen Flanaga and sophomore Sam Bissonnette.
Senior Amy Wilfert led the way in the distance events, winning the 1,500-meter race with a provisional qualifying time of 4:34.06 and beating out Amherst junior Melissa Sullivan down the stretch. Wilfert's time currently ranks her seventh nationally.
"I definitely wanted to win the 1,500," said Wilfert. "That was the main focus because that was first and then I could think about the [5,000]. We were hoping maybe I would have a little bit more in the [5,000], but the competition was really stiff."
Racing against some fresh legs and elite competition, Wilfert was still able to finish fourth in the 5,000-meter race in 17:50.04. Sophomore Julia Hajnoczky also scored in the race, finishing seventh in 18:17.16.
"In the [5,000], I ran more conservatively than I would have had I been fresh," Wilfert said. "No one really wanted to lead it, so I could hang back and put myself in a good position. I just wanted to be able to respond to surges if that happened and hang on as best I could."
Freshman Jana Hieber also fared well this weekend, competing in four different events. In addition to competing in the 4x400-meter relay, she competed in the two hurdling events and the high jump. She won the 400-meter hurdles in 1:03.39, bettering her provisional qualifying time and ranking her 18th nationally. She also finished third in the 100-meter hurdles in 15.40 seconds, bettering her time in the qualifying round by over three-tenths of a second.
Now that the conference meet has passed, the Jumbos will look to focus on their individual events while trying to qualify for additional meets as the postseason progresses. Tufts will compete at MIT for Div. III Regionals next weekend.
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Correction: This article has been changed from its original version, which incorrectly stated that Kelly Allen was ranked third in the nation in the discus throw. In fact, she is ranked fourth.
