The men's track and field team accomplished its goal of qualifying more runners for the NCAA Championships by racing well at Boston University's Valentine Invitation last Friday. The Jumbos also managed to break a few records in the process.
In what is becoming a recent trend, Tufts' record books had to be rewritten once again after the Distance Medley Relay (DMR) team, finishing in a time of 10:01.33 seconds, smashed a school best of 10:07.02 that had been set only two weeks ago at BU's Terrier Invitational. The new record-holders are senior Aaron Kaye and juniors Trevor Williams, Patrick Mahoney and Matt Fortin.
With the exception of Kaye, who replaced senior Brian McNamara recovering from illness, it was the same team that shattered the old school record set in 2001 (10:10.85) and provisionally qualified for Nationals with their first DMR race at BU this season.
The automatic qualifying time for Nationals is 10:01. Facing strong competition from Div. I, II, and III programs, the Jumbos were determined to improve their time to at least 10:05, which would have increased their chances of landing a spot at Nationals.
The team overshot its own mark, and with a stellar race from each runner in his respective leg, the team finished in fifth place and only a fraction of a second away from the automatic qualifying time. While just short of the magic number, the time should still secure them a spot at Nationals.
"We were shooting for [10:05], which was our goal for that meet," Fortin said. "I don't think any of us actually thought we would run [10:01.33], so we were definitely very excited when we saw the clock stop. Every leg for us was exceptional. Each guy basically ran a personal record in his individual event."
Kaye split 3:03 in the leadoff 1200 meter leg, giving his team an excellent start to the race. Williams, who before the meet said his personal goal for the DMR was to finish the 400 leg under 50 seconds, accomplished his goal before handing the race over to Mahoney, who ran another outstanding leg in the 800 and split 1:55. Fortin, with a standout performance in the final mile leg (4:12.6), paced himself right behind Bowdoin's All-American junior Andrew Combs and brought the Jumbos to their record finish.
"I was lucky enough to be put in a great situation by my teammates," Fortin said of his performance in the final leg. "I was right behind a great runner from Bowdoin, and once he passed me I tried to follow him and run as fast as I could."
The DMR team runners weren't the only Jumbos with standout performances at the Valentine Invitational. Senior Nate Brigham and junior Matt Lacey, two of the strongest runners in Tufts' accomplished distance program, raced against stiff competition in the 5K, and both finished strong.
Brigham, who holds the Tufts indoor track record for the 5K (14:33.34) and finished ninth at Nationals last year, had not yet qualified this season prior to the Valentine Invitational.
That changed Friday, when Brigham ran his way to a 15th-place finish and put himself in first place for Div. III in New England for this season (14:36.59), and fifth overall in Div. III, for the 5K. He was about six seconds off the automatic qualifying time of 14:30.5, but easily qualified provisionally and should still earn a spot at Nationals.
"I was pretty excited because it's been a rough ride for me since cross country," Brigham said. "This was my first real big race, and I did well in it. I got second in my heat, and it was a good race for me, and hopefully I'll be able to improve."
Nearing the end of his last indoor season at Tufts, the senior will next attempt to break his own school record and automatically qualify for Nationals in the 5K.
Lacey, who held the New England Div. III 5K record for this season (14:48.00) going into Friday's meet, was right behind his teammate with a 20th-place finish and improved the provisionally qualifying time he ran before winter break by almost five seconds (14:43.43). He now sits in third place in New England Div. III in the 5K.
The qualifying athletes, who also include sophomore Fred Jones for the long jump and triple jump, will now wait to see if their times (or jumps) will hold up for Nationals.
If they are bumped off the qualifying list by better numbers, they can compete at a last-chance qualifying meet that will be put on by Trinity College at Yale University the weekend before Nationals.
After the meet on Friday, the team then hosted the Tufts Stampede, a non-scoring meet, on Saturday. It was the team's last meet before the upcoming New England Div. III Championships, also to be hosted at Tufts on Feb. 19.
After a rough week and half battling the flu, McNamara won the 1000 and qualified for the Div. III meet (2:35.99).
If Saturday's results are any indication of how the team will perform next weekend, the Jumbos are well prepared for the championships. Several athletes gave excellent performances in their respective events and took advantage of their last chance to qualify for the New England Div. III Championships.
