Despite horrid weather and the fatigue of a long and grueling season, the men's track and field team was still able to finish an impressive seventh place in the New England Open Championships, which took place at MIT on May 13.
The finish was an accomplishment for Div. III Tufts, as the playing field consisted of 36 total teams, many of which were Div. I and Div. II schools. With 40 points, the Jumbos were able to finish second out of the Div. III schools, only losing to perennial powerhouse Williams, who finished fourth with 69 points.
City powerhouses Boston College (eighth, 29.5 points) and Boston University (11th, 23) were among the Div. I schools that fell victim to the Jumbos, along with in-state behemoth UMass-Amherst (10th, 27).
Coach Ethan Barron said that the poor showings from the Div. I programs could be due to the draw of other competitive meets on the same weekend. He noted, though, that this year was one of the first in which Div. III athletes had won so many events.
"Let me not take any points away from our guys. They went into a great meet and they won and that's really what they had to do," Barron said. "They lined up against really good competition and they won. That's what we do."
While the Jumbos did not have point-earning performances across the board, they were able to fight for the high finish with the help of their jumping and throwing athletes and their relays. The 4x400 meter relay team, consisting of senior tri-captain Trevor Williams, senior Patrick Mahoney, junior Dustin Virgilio and freshman James Bradley, finished sixth in the pack of 17 with a time of 3:22.1.
"That was the most impressive race that group of guys has run all season," Barron said. "It was the best not only because it was a season best but also because they did so in such slop."
In the field, sophomore Jeremy Arak and freshman Ted McMahan finished second and fifth in the high jump with jumps of 6'06" and 6'04", respectively. Additionally, junior Fred Jones took sixth in the long jump (22'9.75") and third in the triple jump (48'2.5") while sophomore Dan Marcy brought home a fifth-place result in the triple, jumping 46'11".
As of press time, Jones' triple jump has him sixth on the Nationals performance list, while his current-best long jump is an uncharacteristic 23rd on the list. Jones is a six-time All-American with four in the triple jump and two in the long jump.
Nationals will be held on May 25-27 at Benedictine University (Ill.).
"Some people think that all jumping is the same, but the rhythm and technical aspects of them are very different," Barron said. "It's very difficult to succeed at the level that Fred succeeds in both jumps. It takes a really intelligent and skilled athlete to juggle between the intricacies that it takes to compete in both."
Senior tri-captain Jason Galvin carried the torch for Tufts in the throwing events. He notched four big points for the Jumbos in the hammer throw with a toss of 171'10".
While rain and wind might have slowed down the times of some participants, it definitely did not affect the performance of freshman Skip Pagel. The freshman, competing in the ever-difficult decathlon, surprised everybody by becoming the only first place finisher on the Jumbos squad. While earning 10 points for his team, Pagel proved his performance was no fluke, finishing almost 300 points ahead of his nearest competitor, Dartmouth freshman Nicholas Weir.
Senior Matt Lacey summed up his and his teammates delight in Pagel's masterful decathalon.
"I definitely think the highlight of the meet was [Pagel] winning the decathlon," Lacey said. "He barely qualified for the event and then came out with a huge [personal record], which is just incredible."
Lacey and sophomore Chris Kantos both competed at the IC4A Championships in Princeton on Friday looking to qualify for Nationals. Both came short, however, as Kantos took 12th in 31:50.64 and Lacey finished 27th in 15:15.27.
While Kantos is provisionally qualified for Nationals in both the 5,000 and the 10,000, Lacey missed qualification in the two events. The senior is the school record holder in both events.
"He's done things that 99% of the runners on the planet can't even dream of doing," Barron said. "His career at Tufts can only be measured by the success that he had and the leadership that he brought to the guys."
The track team loses an extremely talented corps of athletes to graduation, including Lacey, Williams, Galvin, Mahoney, Matt Fortin, Kyle Doran, and Brandon Udelhofen, although Galvin, as of press time, occupied 12th on the Nationals performance list in the hammer throw, meaning he will likely get to compete at Benedictine.
"They are a very talented class, and obviously you can't replace any of those individuals," Barron said. "You can hope that a couple of guys will be able to step up and grab points in their stead."
