1 of 36

2023 T&F NESCAC Championships

Koskinen Wins Second Straight Title At NESCAC Championships

4/29/2023 6:46:00 PM

NEW LONDON, Conn. – Junior Chris Koskinen (Yarmouth, Maine) took home the individual crown in the pole vault to lead the Connecticut College men's track & field team to a ninth place finish at the NESCAC Championships.

Conn hosted the event on a wet and windy day in New London. The inclement weather resulted in tough conditions for the teams. Because of the forecast, the pole vault and high jump were held on Friday, while the rest of the events took place on Saturday.

Tufts won the team championship, scoring 171 points over the course of two days. Williams finished as the runner-up (126), followed by Amherst (114.5), Middlebury (96.5), and Bowdoin (85) to round out the top five.

The Camels scored 30 team points, a third of which were attributed to Koskinen who captured his second consecutive NESCAC title in the pole vault. The junior bested the field by clearing a height of 4.65 meters. Koskinen is the Camels' first men's outdoor repeat champion since Marc Proto in the long jump in 1998-99. Teammate Anders Larson (Concord, N.H.) placed seventh in the event, recording a new outdoor personal-best of 4.15 meters.

In the 5k, the duo of Jeffrey Love (Union, N.J.) and Matt Carter (Manchester, Mass.) registered top-five finishes, scoring a combined 11 team points. Love crossed the line in third place, earning All-NESCAC honors with a time of 14:25.54. The senior got out quickly and hung at the top of the pack for the majority of the race. Williams senior Elias Lindgren pulled away with nearly four laps to go to take home the title. Love was just 0.2 seconds off from the outdoor record set by Litoff over 40 years ago.

Carter ran in the middle of the field, nearly falling out of the top-eight at various points. But in the final lap, Carter emptied the gas tank, passing four competitors in an all-out spring to finish fourth overall in 14:34.22.

First year Jonathan Norton (Vineyard Haven, Mass.) came in sixth in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. Norton crossed the finish line in 9:37.53.

The 4x800-meter relay team of Harry Harwood (Woodbury, Conn.), Joao Ferreira (Lisbon, Portugal), Bennett MacDougall (Wellesley, Mass.) and Chris Verstandig (Slingerlands, N.Y.) also placed sixth in a competitive field, recording a time of 8:05.07.

Junior Ethan Bush (Hanover, Mass.) also scored for the Camels, placing eighth in the 10k.

Qualifying athletes will be back in action next weekend at the New England Division III Championships hosted by Springfield College.

ALL-NESCAC
Chris Koskinen - pole vault (first place)
Jeffrey Love - 5k (third place)

Print Friendly Version