The Middlebury men's track and field team finished in fifth place with 76 points at the NESCAC Championships on Saturday hosted by Tufts. The Jumbos claimed the conference crown with 173.5 points, while Amherst (151.5 points) and Williams (117.5 points) rounded out the top-three teams. The Panthers were led by Dave Filias and Ziggy Goddard who each earned individual conference crowns. 
 
HIGHLIGHTS

• Filias was named the NESCAC Champion in the hammer throw for the second-straight year. He outdistanced the field by nearly eight meters, hurling the weight to a school-record effort of 61.22 meters.
• Goddard was victorious in the 3,000 steeplechase, posting a collegiate-best clocking of 9:09.85 in the event.
• Also garnering All-NESCAC accolades were Alec Gironda, Xander Swann, Dan Urchuk and Caleb Smith, who each finished third. Gironda crossed the line third in the 10,000 (30:35.23), while Swann was third with a personal-best clocking of 54.02 in the 400 hurdles. Urchuk heaved in the discus to a distance of 43.99m, while Smith tossed the javelin to stick in the ground at 54.09m.
• Marco Motroni posted a fourth-place time during the 100 (10.96).
• Shef West crossed the finish line in sixth place during the 1,500 in 3:53.84, while Aiden Tam was sixth in the 110 hurdles with a clocking of 15.28. 
• Smith hit the sand with the sixth-furthest distance in the long jump at 6.94m, while Sam Opawuyi was seventh in the triple jump with a leap of 13.61m.
• During the high jump, a pair of Panthers recorded top-eight efforts. Sam McGarrahan claimed seventh place (1.92m) and earned the spot due to fewer attempts, while Smith was eighth clearing the bar at the same height. 
• Multiple Panthers also tallied eighth-place finishes. Lachlan Bishop was eighth in the 800 (1:55.38), Benjamin Hughes matched that finish in the 1,500 (3:54.57), Jefferson Hill stopped the clock in 15.58 to earn eighth in the 110 hurdles, while Parker Loupessis secured eighth (55.94) in the 400 hurdles.
• Other eighth-place individual efforts during field events were recorded by Henry Ericson in the pole vault (4.40m), Logan Cosgrove during the shot put (14.23m) and Samuel Maxwell in the discus (41.32m). 
• Each of the three Panther relays posted top-eight finishes. The 4x400 quartet of Swann, Loupessis, Smith and Colin Breen was sixth in a time of 3:23.26, while the 4x800 relay team of Zach Utz, Bishop, Raymond Pavlik and Charles Kessler was seventh (7:52.56). The 4x100 squad of Motroni, Tam, Swann and Jacob Zhang posted a clocking of 42.78 to garner eighth place. 

NOTES

• Filias has won the hammer during four different invitationals this spring.
• Smith's efforts in the javelin and the long jump were both collegiate bests, while Motroni's run in the 100 along with the times by Hughes and West during the 1,500 were all personal-best clockings. Cosgrove's throw in the shot put also surpassed his personal-long toss by 0.18m. 

Middlebury will send a group of athletes to the Division III New England Championship hosted by Mt. Holyoke next weekend.