COLLEGEVILLE (PA) – All-American Ta'riq Thomas won the long jump title and was the runner-up in two other events as the Delaware Valley University men's indoor track and field team opened its season by finishing in third place out of 11 squads at the Bow Tie Classic hosted by Ursinus College.

DelVal recorded 77.5 points on the day to trail only the host Bears (112.5 points) and Division II Lincoln University (94.5 points). It's the Aggies first top three finish at an indoor meet since they were the runner-up at the Albright College Invitational back in 2011.

Thomas was a big reason why. The junior missed most of last year's indoor season with an injury but came back strong in outdoor and won the Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) championship in both the long jump and the triple jump. He then went to the NCAA and placed third in the triple jump for his second straight All-America honor.

On Saturday, he took top honors in the long jump, thanks to a leap of 21 feet, 10.25 inches. He was edged in the triple jump after recording a mark of 44 feet, 7.5 inches. Thomas also took second in the high jump, clearing the bar 5 feet, 8 inches.

Kaisean Freedman was the pole vault runner-up as the junior cleared the bar at 10 feet, 11.5 inches. Fellow junior Amir Johnson had a third-place effort in the 200-meter dash (22.97 seconds).

Freshman Jake Ryan placed in the top eight and earned team points in three separate events while sophomore Jacob Hart and junior John Jones did so in two events apiece. Ryan was third in the high jump (5-4.25), fifth in the 200-meter dash (23.59 seconds) and seventh in the long jump (19-2.5). Hart took fifth in the 3,000-meter run (10:48.6) and sixth in the 1-mile run (5:16.63). Jones was fourth in the long jump (20-6.25) and fifth in the 60-meter dash (7.27).

DelVal also had a first-place finish in the 4X200 relay with a time of 1 minute, 37.06 seconds. The team will return to action on Saturday, January 21 when they head back to Ursinus for the Collegeville Classic.