This spring season marked the close of an impressive year for the Tufts men's track program.
Coming off a winter season in which the indoor team finished second of 21 New England Div. III schools and a cross country season in which the Jumbos won their first ever NESCAC title, the outdoor squad continued to build on a tradition of Tufts track excellence this spring.
For a select few, the season is not over yet. Freshman jumper Fred Jones qualified for the NCAA National Championships in the triple jump, to be held on May 27 to 29 at Millikin University in Decatur, Ill.
Junior Nate Brigham has yet to definitely qualify in the 10,000-meter run, but he currently sits at 20th on a list of 10,000 runners from which the top 16 or so will qualify.
Junior hammer thrower Dan March and senior tri-captain and steeplechaser Peter Jurczynski were in similar situations; however neither of them were able to improve their marks enough to qualify for Nationals.
For the rest of the Jumbos, the All-New England Champion-ships on May 7 and 8 marked the end of the season. The team finished tenth out of a field of 35 New England schools despite not competing at full strength due to the conflict between the meet and the University's final exams schedule.
"The finals schedule here makes us put a little more emphasis on the NESCAC and NCAA championships [which fall before and after finals]," twenty-year veteran coach Connie Putnam said. "But we're here to get educated first and run second."
Finals had a clear impact on the Jumbos at All-New England's, as the squad was without key contributors such as junior hurdler Nate Thompson, sophomore pole vaulter Seth LaPierre, and freshman sprinter Nate Cleveland.
Nonetheless, several Jumbos delivered strong individual performances. Jones finished second in the triple jump (46-2 feet) and sixth in the long jump (22-3 3/4), while classmate Josh Kennedy (32 minutes, 07.31 seconds), finished second in the 10,000m. March, who finished sixth in the hammer, hit a new personal record of 171-03 feet, and sophomore Trevor Williams (55.76 seconds) also reached a new personal record in the 400-meter hurdles.
The men finished a strong fifth out of 25 teams at the Div. III New England Championships on May 1, but the team's best performance of the season came a week earlier at an intense NESCAC championship meet. After a scoring error had originally placed the Jumbos second by one half point, the team has now been placed 1.5 points behind Bates and in third place.
Still, the Jumbos qualified 12 runners, jumpers and throwers for All-NESCAC status. The All-NESCAC list is comprised of top-three finishers from the NESCAC championships, and it includes first-place finishers Jones, who won both the long jump and the triple jump, sophomore Seth LaPierre, who won the pole vault, and freshman Josh Kennedy, who won the 10,000m. For his dominance in the jumps, Jones was recognized as the NESCAC Rookie of the Year.
Also earning All-NESCAC honors were senior Peter Bromka, who finished second in the 10,000m, Nate Brigham and junior Matt Lacey who finished second and third, respectively, in the 5,000m, Jurczynski, who finished second in the steeplechase, sophomore Brandon Udelhofen, who finished third in the shot put, and the 4x400-meter relay team of Ray Carre, Nate Cleveland, Pat Mahoney, and Trevor Williams.
Throughout the season, the team performed well despite being hampered by difficulties with scheduling.
"Everyone has done a great job working hard during a long year," Putnam said.
A short three-meet regular season left little time to qualify for the championship meets, and final exams conflicted with both the New England Div. III championships and the Open New England championships.
This proved especially challenging due to the team's reliance on its distance squad to provide many of the team's best performances.
"I feel as though we did a great job," Brigham said about his distance teammates. "If you look at the NESCAC results you'll see that from 800 meters up combined we outscored every distance squad."
After a long year and tough outdoor schedule the distance team began to show some wear towards the end of the season, but several young sprinters lie waiting in the wings to provide relief. Freshman 100m and 200m runner Nehemiah Green was riddled by injuries this year, but he and other young sprinters and hurdlers like Jamil Ludd will be expected to follow the lead of junior standout Ray Carre and continue to improve the team's sprint squad.
The biggest sign of the team's continued growth is its youth. The Jumbos roster included only five seniors, and the vast majority of the points were produced by underclassmen.
"I'm very excited," Putnam said. "We had a young team and our incoming group should be very talented as well."
Putnam's athletes seem to recognize something special in the making as well.
"We're all looking forward to next year," Jones said. "From here on out, all we can do is get better."
