Facing a double-header in the Terrier Classic at Boston University on Friday and a meet the following day at Bowdoin College, the Tufts men's track and field team had a lot on its plate.
Tufts sent only a select all-star distance squad to the Terrier Classic to compete against elite Div. I teams, including host BU, New York University and Georgetown, and the Jumbo athletes did not disappoint.
Three Tufts runners - senior tri-captain Matt Lacey, junior Joshua Kennedy, and sophomore Chris Kantos - provisionally qualified for Nationals in the 5K run, finishing with times of 14:38.98, 14:47.57 and 14:48.40, respectively. Lacey finished 18th out of a field of 52, followed by Kennedy in 23rd and Kantos in 25th.
"Qualifying for Nationals is a personal goal for the year," Lacey said. "With my time now, I would have been the last athlete on the list to qualify [last year] by only half a second."
All runners' times above a certain mark are put on the provisional qualification list. At the end of the season, the runners with the top times are offered bids to the National meet. Because it is still early in the season, relatively few athletes have made the list yet, making it difficult to judge the final standing of the Jumbo runners based on their current times. Lacey, however, feels confident about the postseason chances of several Tufts' athletes.
"[Junior] Fred Jones should definitely get there in jumps," Lacey said. "[Sophomore Jeremy] Arak looks good in high jump as well. He had a phenomenal personal best early in the season. Also, the guys in 5K have the talent to make it as individual runners as well as in the [distance medley relay]."
The distance medley relay (DMR) is traditionally a strong event for Tufts. The relay team finished fifth out of 11 teams, only 0.36 seconds behind Div. I Duke University. The DMR team was aiming for provisional National qualification at the meet, but fell just short of its target.
"They were only two seconds off the qualification time," Lacey said. "They should be there by the end of the season."
The next day, the team (minus the Terrier Classic runners) traveled to Bowdoin. The five-team field - comprised of host Bowdoin, MIT, Colby, Springfield College and Tufts - was not as competitive as some of the foes Tufts has encountered this season. As predicted, MIT dominated the competition with 184 points. Tufts finished comfortably in second place with 156, on the strength of its middle-distance events, 58 points ahead of third-place Bowdoin.
Junior Dustin Virgilio finished first in the 400 meter dash with a time of 51.98, edging out the runner-up by only 0.03 seconds. Continuing the middle distance sweep, junior Nate Cleveland and senior Patrick Mahoney won their respective events, the 800m run and 1000m. Freshman Marcelo Norsworthy also finished second in the 600m.
Tufts held strong in the jumping competition. Jones maintained his uncontested dominance in the long and triple jumps, placing first in both events. Tufts took the top three spots in the high jump as well, with Arak in first, followed by sophomore Dan Marcy and freshman James Bradley.
Tufts' continued dominance over fellow Div. III competitors bodes well for the end-of-season New England Championships.
"I think we'll do really well at New Englands," Lacey said. "This is the best team we've had across the board since I've been here. We already have athletes provisionally qualified for New Englands in events that in past years have been completely blank."
The senior tri-captain believes this is a breakthrough year for his team.
"I think we can finally beat Williams," Lacey said, referring to Tufts' painful record of finishing as the runner-up to the New England track and field powerhouse.
