The Tufts men's track and field team fought through strong winds and chilly weather at the Hillside Relays this weekend, displaying strong individual talent despite the absence of total point calculations.
The meet saw better all-around performances than the team's performance of the year, the Snowflake Classic held on Apr. 1, in which the Jumbos finished third. But the short outdoor season limits the team's "warm-up" time and necessitates quick improvements as NESCACs and Nationals approach.
"It was a definite step up from last weekend," coach Ethan Barron said. "But we're definitely looking to improve."
"It was definitely a huge improvement from last weekend," senior tri-captain Matt Lacey added. "With every week and every race, we want to improve a little bit more."
Of the weekend's events, the 400 and 100 meter dashes exemplified these improvements. Senior tri-captain Trevor Williams (50.61), junior Dustin Virgilio (50.92) and freshman James Bradley (51.26) raced to impressive third, fourth and fifth place finishes, respectively, in the 400. In the 100 meter dash, junior Fred Jones (11.62) finished a respectable fifth place in the finals, cutting down his 11.99 time in the preliminaries at the Snowflake Classic.
"There was definitely a great deal of improvement in their efforts," Barron said. "I think the loss of the headwind they had to deal with last weekend [at the Snowflake Classic] really helped them this weekend. Also I think seeing the time Dustin Virgilio raced out there after being injured was a very positive note on the weekend."
Yet it was the distance runners who put on the weekend's most dominating performances. Senior tri-captain Matt Lacey, running for the first time in the outdoor season after resting during the Snowflake Classic, led the Jumbos charge by winning the 5000 meters in a time of 15:08.09. Senior Matt Fortin (4:03.72) finished seventh in the 1500 meters, and junior Josh Kennedy (30:56.89) took first in the 10,000 meters and sophomore Chris Kantos (31:02.37) finished second in his first-ever 10k, both good enough to make the Nationals qualifying list.
"The guys did really well despite some pretty horrible weather," Lacey added. "It wasn't my best time particularly but guys like Fortin, Kennedy, and Kantos ran great races."
Other notable performances for the Jumbos were freshman Colin Fitzgerald (23.28) finishing fifth in the 200 meter dash, senior Pat Mahoney (1:56.93) finishing second in the 800 meter dash, sophomore Jeremy Arak finishing second in the high jump, sophomore Nate Scott finishing second in the decathlon, and Derek Engelking finishing second in the javelin throw, recording one of the 10 longest throws in Tufts Track and Field history.
The abnormally cold weather and swirling winds may have impacted some of the times of the runners.
"There is no doubt that the weather played a large part in a lot of the times not being as fast as they could be," Barron said. "Some races had to be put on different days and it really affected some of the longer races."
The end of April is quickly approaching, the time of year in which the track team must reach its peak performance level. The Jumbos have only three meets before they will take to the Bowdoin track for the NESCAC championships on Apr. 29.
"NESCACs are three weeks away and that is definitely when we all want to be in top form," Lacey said.
