Jumbos capture second at New England Division III Championships

Williams lived up to their reputation as a league powerhouse last weekend, edging out Tufts for the New England Div. III Championship.

Tufts finished second out of the field of 21 at Bowdoin College last Saturday. The Jumbos' 107.5 team points placed them behind only Williams, which accumulated 115.5 points.

"The team ran superbly," coach Connie Putnam said. "There's almost nowhere you can find someone who had a disappointing performance."

No Jumbo qualified in the 55 meter dash, while junior Ray Carre qualified but didn't run in the 200 or 400.

"It was pretty obvious going in that if we spotted Williams all the points in the 55, 200, and 400, it was going to be tough to pull out a win," Putnam said. "But Ray probably wouldn't have scored in the 200 and if he had run the 400 he couldn't have run the 600."

Instead, Carre won the 600 with a career best time of 1:22 flat, marking the third consecutive week that a Jumbo has broken the school record in that event. Freshman Nate Cleveland finished third with a 1:23.25, just four-hundredths of a second out of second.

"Nate got nipped by an upperclassman," Putnam said. "It happens."

Sophomore Pat Mahoney came in fifth in the 800, running a personal best 1:56.53. Putnam thought he was disadvantaged due to his placement in the slower of two heats, which he won.

"All the guys in the faster heat were pushing each other," Putnam said. "Pat didn't have the benefit of that competition."

Sophomore Matt Fortin scored in the 1000 with a fifth place finishing time of 2:32.58, while fellow classmate Kyle Doran just missed qualifying for NCAA's in the 1500 with a 3:58.48, good for third place.

Sophomore Matt Lacey came in third in the 3000 with an 8:47.99 while fellow Jumbo junior Mike Don was right behind him in fourth with an 8:49.55.

"If we had one race where I was hoping we could be a little better it was that one," Putnam said. "They still both had excellent times though."

In the 5000, junior Nate Brigham put up the 12th fastest Div. III time in the nation on a flat track this year, running it in 14:44.47. Freshman Josh Kennedy provided support for Brigham's first place with a fifth place time of 15:14.06, ten seconds faster than his seed.

"Fifteen-fourteen for a freshman is darn good," Putnam said. "Don't let anyone kid you. Taken together our 5k was nothing short of phenomenal."

Junior Nate Thompson grabbed fourth in the 55 meter hurdles final with a season best 7.82, while freshman Jamil Ludd entered with the lowest seed but posted back-to-back career bests of 8:15 in the preliminary heat and 8:06 in the final to capture eighth place.

Thompson also posted fourth in the long jump with a 6.59 meter jump, while freshman Fred Jones grabbed a second in the long jump and a first in the triple jump. His respective distances of 6.96 m and 14.28 m were both pr's.

Sophomore Seth LaPierre tied for third in the pole vault with a season best 14-03.5 and just missed clearing 14-09. Junior Dan March finished seventh in the weight throw with a 15.9 meter throw.

"March threw well but not great," Putnam said. "I think he was a little disappointed in his place."

In the relays, the 4x400 squad grabbed fifth with a 3:23.87 while the 4x800 grabbed fourth overall, winning their heat by almost eight seconds with a time of 8:07.86. Putnam thought that the 4x800 team could have fared better but junior Aaron Kaye's opening stint was so good that freshmen Peter Orth, Dan Jones, and Dan Sullivan had little competition on their legs. The distance medley relay team also captured a fourth place, running in 10:30.25. The coach had also predicted faster times for his 4x400 and DMR teams, but thought they looked a little worn down.

"When you compete as hard as we did, you get on the bus afterward and what can you say?" Putnam said. "Williams was a little better than us."