For some athletes on the men's track and field team, the season has ended, but for those who qualified for postseason meets, the most intense competition is still to come in the next few meets.
This weekend, a few Jumbos will face strong Div. I, Div. II and Div. III programs at the All-New England Championships at Boston University.
The meet will serve as another chance for individuals to qualify for Nationals, or for those who already have qualified to improve their times. All large state universities will be competing at the meet and the Jumbos are hoping the intense competition will result in better times.
"It's a chance to run very fast, with all those Div. I programs," coach Connie Putnam said. "The ultimate goal is to run fast and jump far, and improve National qualifying marks if we have them, or get them if we don't have them, and to score as many points as possible. This meet allows us to run against better kids than usual."
Sophomore jumping star Fred Jones leads all of New England in the long jump (7.02 meters) and the triple jump (14.61), both events in which he has already provisionally qualified for nationals. The meet will give Jones a chance to improve his qualifying marks and to prove his top seed against a host of strong New England athletes.
Sophomore Jamil Ludd and senior Nate Thompson will compete in the 55 meter hurdles along with 23 other runners. Ludd is seeded 16th (7.92 seconds) and Thompson is right behind him in 17th (7.93).
Junior Trevor Williams will run the 400-meter dash as the 19th seed (50.84), as well as compete in the 4x400-meter relay.
"In the 400, I'd like to break 50 seconds," Williams said of his goals for the meet. "And in the 4x400, we'd like to post a provisional time for Nationals."
No other Jumbos qualified for the sprinting events, but a number of runners will compete in the distance events, once again proving the strength of Tufts' distance program.
Junior Patrick Mahoney will compete in the 800-meter run, seeded 14th (1:55.61). Senior Aaron Kaye and sophomore Ciaran O'Donovon will compete in the 1,000 meter run, seeded 13th (2:31.60) and 19th (2:34.48), respectively.
Junior Matt Fortin will run the 1 mile and is seeded 13th (4:17.90). Senior Michael Don will compete in the 3000 and is unseeded (8:44.34).
Senior Nate Brigham will run the 5,000-meter run, an event in which he has provisionally qualified for Nationals and is seeded second in All-New Englands (14:36.59), behind only New Hampshire University's Tim Perry (14:28.70). Brigham will attempt to take advantage of the strong competition to break his own school record (14:33.34) and qualify for Nationals automatically.
Junior Matt Lacey and sophomore Josh Kennedy will also run the 5,000. Lacey is seeded sixth (14:43.43) and has also provisionally qualified for Nationals along with Brigham. Josh Kennedy, who is unseeded (15:10.31), will attempt to join his teammates and run a qualifying time.
In the 4x800-meter relay, Tufts enters a team at the 18th seed (8:01.83) and in the 4x400 relay at the 13th seed (3:24.53).
In the Distance Medley Relay, the Jumbos enter a team that consists of Kaye, Mahoney, Williams and Fortin and is seeded third in the event (10:01.33) behind Boston College and UMass Lowell.
The last time these four Jumbos competed together in a DMR event was at BU's Valentine Invitiational, where they broke the school record and came within a fraction of a second of qualifying for Nationals. This weekend, they'll attempt to close the gap and run the required time.
Tufts is also entering a younger DMR team at a lower seed (around 10:25) to compete and gain experience.
Despite the intimidating list of competitors, Putnam believes the team will be able to challenge its opponents.
"In some cases we're at the top [against the other competition], and in some cases we're not," Putnam said. "We're a strong enough Div. III program to move them around a little bit."
