Men sixth at NE Championships

The men's track and field team wrapped up its season on the weekend of May 1-3 at the New England Div. III Championships, finishing sixth out of 23 total teams. Seen purely from the standings, Tufts' finish might seem a disappointment.

The Jumbos finished with 45 points, behind Bowdoin (70) and Bates (69), whom they placed ahead of in the NESCAC championships the previous weekend, as well as behind Springfield College (94), NESCAC champion Williams (102), and Div. III champion MIT (141). But, according to senior tri-captain Greg Devine, finishing sixth was no letdown.

"We didn't set this meet up to go out there and perform well as a team," Devine said. "We put together a couple different relay teams. Individuals were able to choose events they wanted to run in hopes to qualify for Nationals."

The strategy worked especially well for Devine. After posting a time of 53.97 in the 400 meter hurdles during NESCACs the previous week, Devine earned provisional standing for Nationals. At Div. IIIs, Devine looked to automatically qualify for Nationals by finishing the 400 hurdles in 52.45 or faster. He did so by improving his time to 52.01, blazing the competition for first place, ten team points, and a ticket to Nationals.

"In the 400 hurdles I felt rushed," Devine said. "I didn't feel the time was all that fast, but it got the job done. It also gives me a couple more weeks of running and one more shot at attaining an All-American title."

In what was the powerhouse event for the Jumbos this season, Devine and senior tri-captain Bryan Pitko - both selected to the NESCAC All-Conference team - once again racked up team points in the 110 high hurdles. Devine (15.19) took third right in front of Pitko, who placed fourth with a time of 15.27. Devine qualified provisionally for Nationals after a run of 14.85 in the preliminary race.

Despite this achievement, Devine is almost certain he and Pitko will have to qualify automatically to participate in Nationals. To do so, they each need to finish the race at or faster than 14.45. At Div. IIIs, the two combined for 11 of the team's 45 total points in that single event.

"The high hurdles race was a step in the right direction for both me and Bryan," Devine said. "We hope to qualify for Nationals."

Another pair of Jumbos that had solid performances at Div. IIIs was sophomore Ray Carre and freshman Patrick Mahoney. Both earned All-NESCAC selections after the 4x400 relay team placed first at the NESCAC championships. Individually in the 400, they held their own at Div. IIIs, with Carre (49.84) taking fifth and Mahoney (51.73) scoring one team point in eighth place. Carre needs to run the 400 in 48.50 to provisionally qualify for Nationals.

"He picked up where he left off last year," Devine said of Carre. "Last year, he was a freshman who contributed a lot; once again we looked for him. He has grown in his maturity, as well as his hard work on the track, with his times reflecting this growth. As a result he has an opportunity to qualify for nationals this weekend."

In the 10,000, junior Jon Rosen scored one team point after taking eighth in 33:03.04. In the other long event of the day, junior Peter Jurczynski took fifth in the 3000 steeplechase. Running the event in 9:35.75, the All-NESCAC performer scored four team points for the Jumbos in that event.

Leading the jumpers was sophomore Nate Thompson, who scored team points in two events. Thompson's bound of 6.57 meters was good enough for seventh place in the long jump and his triple jump of 13.07 meters earned him eighth place in the event.

The vaulting team led by freshman Seth LaPierre and junior Adrian Clarke had high expectations for Div. IIIs after placing fourth and seventh, respectively, at the previous week's NESCAC championships. Despite their expectations, however, both no heighted - meaning they did not clear their opening heights - and did not score any team points.

"I hurt my hamstring earlier that week and didn't do that much in practice," LaPierre said of his situation. "I came in at a higher height, trying to use the least amount of jumps as possible. One meet wasn't worth ruining my season. However, we were all pretty disappointed."

The throwing team also did not have a competitor place in the top eight in the shot put, discus, or hammer throw, although sophomore Dan March had earned All-NESCAC honors the previous week after capturing second place in the hammer throw.

"Dan unfortunately had a rough day," fellow thrower freshman Brandon Udelhofen said. "Dan really came out of nowhere this season; he wasn't even out last year. He has really been a big factor all year at hammer. He had an injured back, but he will get that fixed and be back next year."

Looking back, Devine believes the track and field squad has a successful year and that it reached most of the goals it set before the indoor season in early November.

"We are a very tight knit group and all support each other 100 percent," Devine said. "We are not cutthroat and competitive within the team. We all work with each other to perform to the highest level and beat every other team out there."