Most members of the Tufts track and field team have ended their season as the championship post-season has progressed. For three Tufts athletes, however, the season is not yet over.
Senior Nate Brigham, junior Matt Lacey and sophomore Fred Jones still have one meet in which to compete, perhaps the most important of their track careers. All three have automatically qualified for the National Div. III Championship meet in Wartburg, Iowa on May 26.
Brigham is rounding out his running career at Tufts, having set several school records along the way. On April 8 at the Hillside Relays at Tufts, Brigham smashed the previous school record in the 5000 meter run by nearly 20 seconds, running a time of 14:31.39. It was Tufts' first outdoor meet at home in five years due to poor track conditions.
The track resurfacing project began a year and a half ago, and was completed in time for this year's outdoor season. During the first meet the track had seen in five years, the weather was perfect for outdoor distance running, and Brigham's mark was good enough to be the top 5000 time in the nation.
Lacey would run an even faster time later on in the season. He started out the season strong and has only improved as the year progressed. He placed second in the 5,000 at Hillside Relays in a strong time of 14:34.04 that was overshadowed by Brigham's mastery on the course. At the Penn Relays on April 28, however, Lacey would not be outrun. He ran a blistering time of 14:19.37, finishing seventh in a field that included athletes from Div. I schools. The time is good enough to rank him at second overall in Div. III.
Brigham also ran well at the event, automatically qualifying for Nationals with a time of 30:14.09 seconds in the 10,000. He broke his own school record with that time, resetting the record he had broken at Hillside Relays three weeks before.
Lacey then one-upped his teammate again, setting a personal record in the 10K at the IC4A meet in Princeton. Lacey ran a time of 30:04.62, good enough for third in the nation and the school record.
In addition to Lacey's individual accomplishments, he led the team to a first place finish at the NESCAC championship meet at Colby on April 30. Lacey won the 10K easily, lapping most of the field, but also helped Tufts net an extra two points for the team in the event when he came up on teammate senior Michael Don as he lapped him. Lacey started yelling at Don to urge him on and slowed his own pace to help Don finish in fourth, rather than the sixth place in which he was running.
"It wasn't about time for me out there," Lacey said at the time. "I just wanted [the team] to win."
Sophomore Chad Uy is one of the many Tufts runners who admire Brigham and Lacey's prowess this season.
"It's pretty inspirational to see all those records being broken," he said, "It makes me want to go out there and run. They make it look so easy. They make it seem like anyone can do just as well."
Jones also had a big year, translating his success in the indoor field events to the outdoors. Jones provisionally qualified for Nationals in two events, the long jump and the triple jump. He is currently twelfth and sixteenth in the nation, respectively. The top 16 marks are invited to compete at Nationals. Jones jumped a mark of 7.17 meters in the long jump at the George Davis Invitational at UMass Lowell. In the triple jump, he marked 14.34 at the NESCAC championships.
Tufts finished second at NESCACs this year behind Williams. The Jumbos overcame injuries to several athletes. Williams has won the meet 12 of the past 13 years, and the Ephs were strong once again at NESCACs. Middlebury made Tufts sweat it out for second place, but the Jumbos triumphed by 9.5 points.
Some Tufts athletes are on the outside of the National picture looking in, trying to solidify a berth to the championship meet. Junior Jason Galvin has performed extremely well this year in the throwing events, especially the hammer, his specialty.
"I thought I would have a good year, but I didn't think I would get so many throws in," he said.
Galvin provisionally qualified for Nationals at the IC4A meet, but is ranked 23rd in the nation. As of press time, Galvin still had one more meet to try and qualify for Nationals; the ECAC championship was held on May 19-20 in Springfield, Mass.
"I'm feeling good. I PRed the past few weeks," he said last week.
