Men's Track and Field | Tufts fights to earn runner-up spot at NESCACs

In the 10,000-meter run, junior Tyler Andrew snagged fourth in a time of 31:41.25. Tufts also earned top-five finishes in the 4x100-meter, 4x400-meter and Distance Medley relays. 

With stellar performances across the board, the Jumbos were pleased to improve two spots from 2011.

“I would say our team this year is very gritty, and this year our heavy-hitter guys are coming in first, second or third, instead of fourth, fifth or sixth, which is a huge difference in points,” Ajayi said. “The team has just matured from last year.” 

The squad hopes to continue to improve on its standing in the NESCAC next year, when it will return many of its top athletes. All three Tufts victories came from juniors, and just two of the team’s top-five finishes came from seniors.

“The strength of our team is in our juniors. There is no doubt about that, so that is very exciting for ... going after the win next year,” Ajayi said.

Moving forward with the 2012 season, the squad will compete at MIT this weekend in the Div. III New England Championships.

“We’re going to go after Div. IIIs, and then after that the focus shifts to more individualized stuff. At the end of the season, the goal is getting national caliber guys to nationals,” said Ajayi, who has aspirations of earning nationals berths in the both the long and triple jumps. “Other than that, at this point, it is just about having fun and competing, since there’s not much more we can do between now and the season ends to make anyone that much better or faster.”

After the Div. III event this weekend, the squad has three more weeks of competition — the Open New England Championships, the ECAC Championships and finally the Div. III NCAA Championships on May 24 in California.