In a sport where one team has had a virtual stranglehold on league competition, the best any other squad can hope for is a strong second-place showing.
The men's track team did just that on Saturday when it came in behind perennial powerhouse Williams with 118.5 points.
It was the Jumbos' second runner-up finish in at the NESCAC championships in as many years.
Fighting for bragging rights in the New England region, Tufts fell short of the Ephs, who dominated the field and posted 225 points to claim its second straight title. Despite the second-place finish, coach Ethan Barron had only good things to say about his team's performance.
"Overall, it was a great day," Barron said. "Williams was very strong, but our team stepped up and put up a great performance. We had a lot of people beat their all-times best finishes, and we definitely reached our potential."
"Going in, if the score would be based on the seeds, they would have a huge advantage really," senior tri-captain Jason Galvin said. "Everyone just went in with the goal of winning their events and scoring as many points as possible."
While struggling through several of the sprinting events, the Jumbos were able to rack up most of their points through the jumping and distance events. Sophomore Jeremy Arak, along with freshmen James Bradley and Ted McMahon, led the way, finishing first, fourth and sixth, respectively, in the high jump. Arak jumped 6'06" on Saturday, his best mark during the outdoor season, and just an inch short of his indoors mark that sent him to Nationals. Tim Bassell, Rob Lorie, and Kenneth Lang took third, fifth and seventh in the pole vault.
Junior Fred Jones finished a disappointing third in the long jump and fifth in the triple jump, while sophomores Nathan Scott and Dan Marcy took third and fourth, respectively, in the triple. Marcy hit the provisional qualifying mark for Nationals with his jump of 46'02", beating the mark by three quarters of an inch. Marcy competed at Nationals in the event with Jones during the indoor season.
"We definitely have one of the strongest jumping programs in New England," Barron said. "Last year we didn't have as many athletes, but this year we do and we have been getting a lot of points off of them. Our goal is to improve that program every year."
Senior tri-captain Jason Galvin rose to the occasion to take first in the hammer throw by only seven inches (179'07") and earning a valuable ten points for the Jumbos. Galvin beat out Colby senior Jason Foster by only seven inches to win the NESCAC title and improve Galvin's spot on the provisional qualifying list for Nationals.
"I didn't realize it was quite that close," Galvin said. "It felt good. It was a pretty fast circle so it took me to my last throw to get used to it and get a good toss out there."
Galvin also took eighth in the shot put while teammate senior Brandon Udelhofen grabbed fifth in the discus.
The distance team fared well throughout the meet, tallying 36 of the Jumbos 118.5 points. Once again, senior tri-captain Matt Lacey put in another dominating performance, finishing first in the 5,000 meter run (14:55.25), and junior Josh Kennedy also scored points by finishing fifth with a time of 15:15.84. Senior Pat Mahoney finished third in the 800, running a 1:55.30 and taking the only top-five spot not occupied by an Eph. Sophomore Chris Kantos took third in the 10,000 meters in 31:34.55, and sophomore Dave Sorenson finished third (9:32.44) in the steeplechase.
Both Lacey and Kantos were running on a day's rest, having competed in the Penn Relays on Thursday.
"I think we did really well [in the distance events]," said Lacey. "We scored points in everything but the 1,500. Kantos came back and ran really well in the 10,000 while [junior] Justin [Chung] had his personal best [32:05.17 for eighth in the 10,000]. Overall I think the distance team had a really strong performance."
While the Jumbos represented their colors this weekend, they will now embark on a nerve-racking period which includes balancing final exams with the upcoming New England Div. III Championships, to be held this Thursday, Friday and Saturday at Springfield.
"It's going to be a really hard stretch," said Barron. "We're going to use a lot of our decathletes, and with finals going on, people are going to be pretty stressed."
While exams and fatigue might seem like obstacles that can possibly hinder the Jumbos, no one is counting them out.
"The final exams actually work out decent because you have a free schedule to plan practices," Galvin said. "The only big concern getting the sleep in. There are a good amount of kids who are qualified for ECACs (May 20 at Springfield), which gives you a week off after final exams are done."
"I think we are going to get great performances out of everybody," Barron said.
