The Jumbos continued a three-year trend of improvement Friday and Saturday, finishing fifth in the field of 25 teams at this year's New England Div. III championships.
Home team Williams dominated the meet with a team score of 142.5 points, winning for the fourth consecutive year. The Ephs were followed by Bates with 70, MIT with 68, Springfield with 65.5, and Tufts with 59. Going into the meet, these five teams were expected to jockey for the top five positions.
A close struggle for second place between Tufts, Bates, Springfield and MIT seemed inevitable considering the rivalries that exist amongst Tufts and all three teams. Close finishes have occurred between these teams throughout the season, highlighted by last week's NESCAC championships in which Tufts beat out Bates by one half of a point in order to secure second place.
That finish was impressive for Tufts, but it took a toll on the team's energy and depth and affected the squad's strategy going into the New England Div. III's. Instead of focusing on a top team finish, the team went into the meet focused on improving individual times for next week's All New England Championships, a meet featuring the best competitors from Div. I, II, and III schools in New England.
"I don't think we are disappointed because we went into this meet with a different mindset," junior Nate Brigham said. "We knew that last weekend was the big team meet and this weekend was another opportunity to improve our times for the All New England Championships. Of course we wanted to finish better as a team, but it's difficult to go full tilt every weekend."
Tufts did witness several impressive individual performances this weekend. Senior Peter Bromka won the 10,000, providing Tufts with one of two of its first place finishes. Bromka won in a time of 32:53.67, a full 17 seconds in front of the nearest competitor.
Meanwhile, NESCAC Rookie of the Year freshman Fred Jones dominated the jumps, winning the triple jump and finishing third in the long jump. Jones posted seasonal bests in each event as he led the Jumbos in total scoring with his 16 point contribution.
"I think yesterday was the best I've felt all year," Jones said. "It will be difficult to duplicate, but hopefully I will continue to improve."
In the sprints, junior Ray Carre qualified for the finals of the 200 meter dash, finishing eighth. Carre also finished fourth in the 400 with a time of 49.14 seconds, his best this season.
Tufts did not score as highly as it often does in some of the distance events, due to a need to rest some of the team's distance runners after last weekend's grueling NESCAC's and in preparation for next week's All New England's.
"A lot of distance guys didn't run in their best events because they were so tired from the week before," Jones said. "It was a different approach. We went very hard last week at NESCAC's and it took a toll on them and everybody."
For instance, Brigham did not run in either of his two usual events, the 5,000-meter run or the 10,000. Instead, Brigham and sophomore Matt Lacey competed in the 1,500, using the shorter event as a tune-up for next week, when the pair will try to break the school record in the 5,000. Brigham is the current record holder.
Freshman Josh Kennedy continued to perform well in the longer runs, finishing third in the 5,000, with junior Brian McNamara finishing strong in ninth.
Senior tri-captain Peter Jurczynski finished fifth in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, sophomore Seth LaPierre finished fifth in the pole vault, sophomore Trevor Williams finished tenth in the 400 meter hurdles, and junior Nate Thompson finished in sixth in the 110. Thompson had missed last weekend's NESCAC's with mononucleosis, making his season best time of 15.35 all the more impressive.
Junior Dan March was the only Jumbo to score in the throwing events, heaving the hammer 170-01. The throw marked a personal record for March and netted a fourth place finish in the hammer throw.
Tufts will send fourteen competitors to this weekend's All New England championships, held at Northeastern. Carre, Jones, Brigham, Lacey, Kennedy, Jurczynski, Thompson, Williams, LaPierre, and March will be there representing the Jumbos, as well as sophomore runners Pat Mahoney and Matt Fortin, freshman runner Nate Cleveland and sophomore discus thrower Brandon Udelhofen.
"Obviously it would be really difficult for us to win as a team this weekend, going up against Div. I schools," Jones said. "But I definitely think that we're going to be refocused and will see a big improvement in times and distances."
