BOSTON – Sophomore Ben Davis was the top qualifier in the 800m preliminaries to highlight action for the Amherst College men's track and field team on the first day of the NEICAAA Indoor Championships on Friday at the Track at New Balance.

The meet includes athletes who qualified from all three NCAA divisions and awards All-NEICAAA honors to the top three finishers in each event while also serving as a final chance to qualify for the NCAA Championships.

With 5 out of 20 events scored on Friday, defending champion Rhode Island leads with 44 points. Amherst tallied two points in the long jump to rank in a tie for 17th place.

Most of the running events held preliminaries on Friday with finals coming up as part of a full day of action on Saturday (March 2) beginning at 9 a.m. at the Track at New Balance. The Mammoths will also be competing tomorrow at the Tufts National Qualifying Meet with action in Medford beginning at noon.

MEET HIGHLIGHTS:

* Davis ran a personal-best time of 1:52.48 to lead the field in the preliminaries of the 800m, besting a bevy of Division I runners. Senior Kolya Markov-Riss also qualified for the finals with a season-best time of 1:54.40. The 800m final is slated for 12:25 p.m. on Saturday.

* Junior Yeob Kim placed seventh in the long jump with a mark of 6.88m to score two points for Amherst in the team standings.