This weekend, the men's track and field runners had one last opportunity to qualify for nationals. None of them were able to capitalize.
On Friday, the men's track and field team traveled to Yale University to compete in the Last-Chance Invitational, hosted by Trinity College. As indicated by the name of the invitational, the handful of Jumbos who competed were attempting to qualify for Nationals for their last chance of the season, and despite several strong performances and a few personal bests, none posted qualifying marks or improved their qualifying marks from earlier meets.
"Everyone who was racing for us knew what the chances were," coach Connie Putnam said. "Everyone knew this was a vague chance and I think everyone ran hard. We just fell a bit short of what we needed to do. I don't think anyone was disappointed, though."
Junior Trevor Williams placed 10th in the 400 meter event in a time of 50.82. Nate Scott placed 13th in the 400 (51.42 seconds). In the 800, junior Patrick Mahoney ran a 1:55.00 and placed fourth and sophomore Ciaran O'Donovan ran a 2:13.51 and placed 15th.
Mahoney's time was his second fastest career mark in the 800, but if the race had gone differently, he would have posted an even better time. Mahoney took the lead early, and then Rhode Island College junior Emmanual Karngar took the lead later in the race, slowing the pace down and fooling the runners behind him. According to Putnam, this tactic was not the most appropriate choice for a meet where everyone is trying to get qualifying times.
"[Mahoney] needed his race to go hard the whole way," Putnam said. "But [Karngar] grabbed the lead and once Patrick realized what happened to the pace, it was too late. The whole intention was to get a fast guy that everyone wants to follow, and a couple of young kids who wanted to qualify got fooled."
The mile was one of the best races for the Jumbos on Saturday. Senior Aaron Kaye and sophomore Nate Cleveland placed fifth and 13th in the mile, respectively (4:17.73 and 4:24.33), and both times were personal bests.
In the 5000, junior Matt Lacey posted a 14:45.95 and finished second, only a fraction of a second behind Haverford junior Will McGuire. Senior Michael Don placed eighth in the 5K (15:20.57).
Sophomore Jamil Ludd placed fifth in the 55 hurdles in a time of 7.99. His preliminary time was 7.97.
In the high jump, freshman Jeremy Arak placed third and reached 1.95 meters, close to his seasonal best. In the pole vault, sophomore Justin Henneman placed fourth (3.86) and junior William Heitmann placed seventh (3.56).
Junior Jason Galvin placed fourth in the weight throw (14.30). Senior Nate Thompson placed 13th in the long jump (6.12) and freshman Dan Marcy placed sixth in the triple jump (13.36), setting a personal best.
"I was a little surprised because last weekend I was really sick," Marcy said of his personal best. "I wasn't sure if I would actually be ready to jump this weekend, but since I was sick, I was getting a lot of sleep. Coach Putnam said he wouldn't be surprised if I jumped around 44 feet, which is what I did."
Although the Jumbos were unable to bump anyone's name up on the Nationals list, according to Putnam, the meet was still a success for the team because of the three personal bests.
"We went down there to get great performances," Putnam said. "And the competition was very good. The kids did well, and it just worked out so that it brought out a few good performances. In terms of Kaye [setting a personal best], it was not a surprise, in terms of Cleveland, it was a pleasant surprise, and [Dan Marcy's personal best] was predictable."
Unfortunately, even the personal bests weren't enough to overcome the stiff competition at the Last-Chance Invitational.
"We didn't speed up quite how much as we had hoped," Putnam said. "But we ran very typically for where we are. The outcome was a good, balanced outcome."
For most of the team, Saturday's meet marked the end of the indoor season. This upcoming weekend, the Jumbos who make it to Nationals will travel to Illinois Wesleyan for the NCAA Championships. The Jumbos who have provisionally qualified will find out today if their marks were good enough to earn them a trip to Nationals.
