BOSTON, Mass.--The Ephs finished 8th at the All-New England Regional Championships of 39 teams and were 2nd among all Division III teams behind only M.I.T. The University of Rhode Island won the meet with a score of 95.33 points. UMass Lowell was 2nd (90 points) while Boston College was third (50.33). M.I.T. (36 points) was 6th while the Ephs scored 31 points.
On Friday, Corey Watts '10 stepped on the track, distantly aware that his personal best in the 10K was set during his sophomore year. That would change as Watts ran 30:59 on Friday to win All-New Englands in the 10,000m. He beat out Division I runner Jason Ayr of UMass Amherst by four seconds and in so doing ran the second fastest time by a Williams runner in the 10K this year (behind Anthony Raduazo '12 at Penn Relays). Watts joins Raduazo as Eph harriers with NCAA provisional qualifiers in that event.
Jabulani Blyden '13 had run consistenly all season, but if he lacked anything it was one marquee race to put the exclamation point on what he had been doing. He achieved just that on Saturday when he ran 52.96 seconds in the 400m hurdles. He also won the race by just .11 seconds over Robert Liekwig of UMass Lowell.
Blyden also competed as a member of the Ephs 4x400m team, which both ran its best time this year and also earned the NCAA provisional qualifier. Considering the team is without its top two 400m runners from last year, it is a rather impressive feat. The Ephs won their heat in 3:16.26 and had the 8th fastest time overall on the day.
Stephen Simalchek '13 remained undefeated in his collegiate career by throwing over 63m in the javelin, 2.8 farther than his closest competitor. Throwing teammate Matt Farley '11 had his strongest hammer throw of the season, heaving the weight 52.00m, just half a meter shy of a NCAA provisional mark.
Several top Eph athletes took the week off in preparation for the fast approaching NCAA Championships. ECAC's next week will be the last chance for athletes to punch their ticket to Nationals.
