Today, a select group of men's track team members will travel to Boston University for the Valentine Invitational. Four runners will compete as a team in the Distance Medley Relay (DMR), and distance stars senior Nate Brigham and junior Matt Lacey will race in the 5000 meter. For these two standouts, it will be the last chance to qualify for the NCAA Championships, to be held at Illinois Wesleyan on March 11-12.
The meet at BU will feature several strong Div. I and Div. II programs, and the added competition should serve as an incentive for Brigham and Lacey, who often go unchallenged at Div. III meets.
"I've been waiting for four years to get a chance to run at the [Valentine] Invitational," Brigham said. "So it's kind of a milestone for the program, to have a couple of guys be entered into those races on Friday."
For the 5K, Lacey currently holds the fifth best time in Div. III nationally and leads Div. III in New England (14:48.40 seconds). As of right now, he'll run fifth seed in the 5K at Nationals, but his place isn't guaranteed. Friday will give him a chance to automatically qualify, which would promise him a place at the championships.
Brigham has not yet provisionally qualified for Nationals this season, but he's no stranger to the 5K. The senior holds the Tufts indoor record in the event (14:33.34) and placed ninth at the 2004 NCAA Championships. The automatic qualifying time this year is 14:30.50.
"This weekend is one of the first times this year that I have a legitimate shot to qualify for Nationals," Brigham added. "It's important, and I'm looking forward to it. I'm looking at it as an opportunity to run well, but I'm not going to place a lot of stress on it, like it's a do-or-die opportunity."
Brigham is anticipating the chance to run against strong competitors, which is especially helpful in an event as long as the 5K.
"[The competition] gives you something to focus on," Brigham said. "Fourteen and a half minutes is a long time to be on the track by yourself. The competition keeps your concentration strong, and takes some of the stress off the individual having to do all the work."
If Brigham runs a qualifying time, he'll join a small handful of Jumbos that are already headed for Nationals. In addition to Lacey's provisional qualifying time in the 5K, sophomore standout Fred Jones has provisionally qualified for the long jump and the triple jump.
The other event Tufts will compete in at the Valentine Invitational is the DMR. A DMR team consisting of senior Brian McNamara, junior Trevor Williams, junior Patrick Mahoney, and junior Matt Fortin has already provisionally qualified for Nationals on Jan. 28 at the BU Invitational (10:07.02). The time they ran, although it shattered the school indoor record (previously 10:10.85), may not be enough to earn them a spot at Nationals. To improve their chances, the team will aim for a time of 10:04 or less, and if they run 10:01, they are guaranteed a spot at Nationals.
This weekend senior Aaron Kaye will replace McNamara, who is recovering from the flu and did not race last weekend, in the DMR. Kaye will race the first 1200 leg of the relay, Williams will run the 400, Mahoney will take the 800, and Fortin will finish the relay with the mile leg. If this team can improve the time from the first BU Invitational, these runners will comprise the DMR team at Nationals.
"The thing I'm most focused on is that I would like as many people as possible to have a chance to compete at Nationals," Williams said. "I think a huge opportunity for that is the DMR. So my goal is to run well and be a part of that. Individually, I'd like to break 50 seconds in the 400 [leg]."
Since provisionally qualifying, the DMR team has had a chance to work on fine-tuning the race, practicing with shorter, faster intervals to improve speed.
Although Friday is certainly the bigger meet for some Jumbos, the team will also host the Tufts Stampede at the Gantcher Center on Saturday. The Stampede will allow some athletes a last chance to qualify for certain post-season meets, but it's the following weekend that the Jumbos are really trying to prepare for.
"The younger guys are making this their last big meet this year and trying to make personal records," coach Connie Putnam said. "We're just spreading the team out and everyone's running their favorite event. We're going to run as hard as we can. Any guys who are close in Div. III are trying to make last minute qualifiers [for the Div. III championships]. Fundamentally, we'll be trying to get our preparation in for the Div. III championships the following weekend."
On Feb. 25-26, Tufts will host the New England Div. III Championships.
