Men's track and field gears up for big weekend at Bowdoin

Coach Connie Putnam expects harder efforts, faster times, and longer distances all around from the men's track and field team in the New England Division III Championships competition at Bowdoin tomorrow.

"This is the culmination of our entire season," senior tri-captain Adrian Clarke said. "We've been preparing for this since we got here in September. This is our team championship and this is what all our efforts have been towards."

Last year, Tufts finished third out of 22 teams behind MIT and Williams. This year, Putnam expects those two schools to once again be the crux of the competition, with Bowdoin and Bates also matching up as formidable opponents.

"We're spoilers [to MIT and Williams]," Putnam said. "If they make any mistakes at all, we'll be there with a chance to capitalize."

The Jumbos have already defeated both MIT and Bowdoin earlier this season at Bowdoin.

The team enters the meet in high spirits. "Not to sound brash, but most of the teams we've faced aren't in our class," Putnam said. "Now we deal with the teams that are, and we deal with them in a championship setting, which was the season is all about."

"Our mentality is: 'let's not worry about winning, let's run well in every event and let the winning take care of itself,'" Putnam said. "I feel like our guys are very, very ready, probably the most ready we've been for this race in years."

No one will represent Tufts in the 55-, 200-, or the 400-meter dash on Saturday. No Jumbos qualified in the 55m, while junior Ray Carre qualified for the 400-m but will not be running because Putnam wants to save him for the 600-m, which he will run with freshman Nate Cleveland.

"Cleveland and Carre are the number two and three seeds in the 600-, so we have a chance to get some major points there," Putnam explained. "The 400- and 600- [which are run back to back] are nearly impossible to double up on."

Sophomore Pat Mahoney will represent the Jumbos in the 800m, while Tufts will attack the rest of the races in pairs. Sophomore Matt Fortin and freshman Scott Merrick will team up in the 1000m, sophomore Kyle Doran and junior Brian McNamara will try to conquer the 1500m, and sophomore Matt Lacey and junior Mike Don will run the 3000m.

The junior Nate Brigham and freshman Josh Kennedy combination will tackle the 5000m while junior Nate Thompson and freshman Jamil Ludd will run the 55-meter hurdle. Senior Peter Bromka has qualified for the 3k and could possibly join Lacey and Don in that race, but he has been hampered by a hip flexor and tendonitis.

In the field events, Thompson will join freshman Fred Jones in a potent 1-2 punch in the triple jump and long jump, while Evan Blaser will represent Tufts in the high jump. Freshman Ryan Byrne will compete in the shot put while sophomores Dan March and Jason Galvin qualified for the weight throw.

The Jumbos will have the largest representation in the pole vault, with Clarke, sophomores Seth LaPierre and Will Heitmann, and freshman Justin Henneman all stepping onto the runway.

"We all just need to put on a good show this weekend and hopefully score some points for the team," LaPierre said.

The relay teams will also provide lots of opportunities to snatch points away from opponents, and the Jumbos will try to take advantage of them. The 4x400m relay team will consist of Carre, Mahoney, Cleveland, and sophomore Trevor Williams. The 4x800m will probably be run by junior Aaron Kaye and freshmen Dan Sullivan, Dan Jones, and Peter Orth. In the distance medley relay, McNamara will run the 1200m leg, Ludd will run the 400m, Fortin the 800m, and Doran will close with the 1600m.