For senior tri-captain Fred Jones, it's time to go it alone.
The men's track and field team had one last shot to qualify a few more athletes for Nationals on Friday and Saturday, as the Jumbos headed to Wesleyan for the ECAC Championships.
Prior to the weekend competition, Jones was the lone athlete qualified for this weekend's NCAA title meet. But at Wesleyan, Tufts hoped to qualify two more: senior tri-captain Nate Cleveland and junior Jeremy Arak.
Unfortunately for the Jumbos however, they came up short-handed, failing to qualify any of Jones' teammates for the event. Despite the lack of a support staff, coach Ethan Barron is confident in his star's ability to turn in a solid performance.
"Fred brings a veteran focus to Nationals," Barron said. "I expect Fred to do nothing except what he's done all year. Fred knows to keep his focus introspective. He knows that if he takes care of himself and does what he's capable of, that everyone else will play their role and things will work out."
Cleveland competed in the 800-meter race at ECACs, taking on a competitive field of 20 area runners. Hoping to shave a second off of his personal best, Cleveland fell short, finishing eighth in the event, four seconds behind the eventual winner, Trinity junior Matt Anderson.
"The 800 didn't go how I had planned," Cleveland said. "I just didn't have it in the legs today."
Meanwhile, the 4x400 relay team had more success, coming in third place. While the Jumbos completed the race in 3:23.57, they fell just short of a Nationals qualification mark, finishing seconds behind top two finishers Wheaton and Plattsburgh State.
"It was a pretty physical race," Cleveland said. "There was a lot of bumping and elbowing in close quarters, but I'm very happy with the results."
Another Nationals hopeful was Arak, who tried to qualify in the high jump. While his jump of 1.94 meters was good enough for a third-place finish, he too fell short of a Nationals spot, losing to Brockport State sophomore Nick Stanisavljevic, and Geneseo State senior Joe Goodspeed.
"My jump was okay," Arak said. "But I was hoping to jump 6-[feet]-8-[inches], and qualify for Nationals. Instead, I jumped about 6-[feet]-4-[inches]. I had to jump pretty early in the morning - around 9:30 - so that definitely made it tough."
Missing out on Nationals was a disappointment for the junior, who was hoping for a second-straight trip.
"It was a little bit frustrating." Arak said. "I qualified for Nationals last year, and I never jumped as well this season as last year's best. I've had some injury issues. Still, it was a pretty solid season for the whole team."
Despite the disappointing individual finish, Cleveland was optimistic about the team's season overall.
"This season, I ran a PR in the 800 and set a school record in the 600," Cleveland said. "I accomplished a lot of my personal goals, and the team performed really well. So, this season was a success."
ECACs also featured standout performances from freshman Ikenna Acholonu, who set a PR in the preliminaries of the 55 hurdles, and junior Dave Sorensen, who improved his PR by seven seconds in the 5K. Sophomore Skip Pagel also performed well in the pentathlon on Friday.
While Tufts' inability to qualify more athletes for Nationals was disappointing, the team's focus was on improving personal bests.
"The national championships are just one aspect of what we're trying to do here," Barron said. "Yes, we are trying to qualify as many athletes as possible for the NCAA meet, but we can have many successful performances this weekend that don't result in NCAA qualifiers."
With the exception of Jones, who will be competing in the long jump and the triple jump at Nationals, the rest of the squad can now turn its attention to the spring season.
"I'll take a few days off and let my body get a rest," Arak said. "Then I'll start getting back in shape and start lifting again. I just need to reset mentally. I hope to do as well or better in the outdoor season."
"We'll take the next week off and then jump right back in by building up mileage and hitting the weight room," Cleveland said. "Everyone should be ready to get [it] after spring break."
With the winter season having concluded for all but one athlete, Barron is content to look ahead to the spring, confident that his team has done all it could to succeed this winter.
"I consider this indoor season a success," he said. "I in no way believe that this team has reached its full potential yet. We have so much talent and a great focus that we will continue to grow and improve through the next season and years to come."
