Judging from its performance at Saturday's MIT Invitational, the men's track and field team is more than ready for the NESCAC championships, which kick off Saturday in Middlebury, Vt.
The last regular season meet on the calendar, the invitational matched the Jumbos up with some of the stiffest non-conference competition of the season, in addition to offering runners a last-chance attempt to qualify for the postseason.
"I thought that this weekend was a great all-around performance for the team," coach Ethan Barron said in an e-mail to the Daily. "The balance of great performances will give us a lot of possibilities and lineup flexibility going into next weekend."
The Jumbos boasted strong showings across the board, and if this weekend is any indication of what's to come, the team certainly has reason to be optimistic.
"I thought we performed very strongly over the course of the meet," senior tri-captain Nate Cleveland said in an e-mail. "We had lots of PR's in all event areas. Everyone really had a great meet and looked poised and ready for a strong championship season."
Tufts boasted a slew of solid outings, most notably those of sophomore Colin Fitzgerald, who finished fourth in the 200-meter dash, and junior Nathan Scott, who finished third in the 400-meter hurdles. The Jumbos also dominated the 1,500-meter race, in which freshmen Jesse Faller and Billy Hale finished fourth and fifth, respectively, and the 110-meter hurdles, in which freshmen Jared Engelking, Ikenna Acholonu and Trevor Donadt swept the third, fourth and fifth spots, respectively.
"We had a great meet at MIT this weekend," senior tri-captain David McCleary said in an e-mail. "We had a bunch of guys run their best times of the season in the 1,500. Every single runner who ran that race worked their hardest and did not give up. It was inspiring."
Not to be overshadowed, the middle distance runners also pounded out season and personal bests, despite warmer-than-ideal weather.
"I was pleased with the milers this weekend," Barron said. It was great to see everyone really engage against some fast competition. I have no doubt that they are each capable of some much faster times. We came away with seven mile PR's this weekend. It was a great set of races to watch."
The field event specialists also shined, taking a number of top-five spots. Sophomore James Bradley and junior Jeremy Arak took the top spots in the high jump. Junior Kenneth Kang finished third in the pole vault with a mark of 4.04m, while senior tri-captain Fred Jones was up to his usual antics, winning both the long jump and triple jump with leaps of 6.82 and 14.64m respectively. Junior Dan Marcy followed his teammate's lead, earning third place with a 13.46m performance in the triple jump.
"In terms of jumps, I am always impressed with how those guys do," McCleary said. "I can expect multiple teammates to be in the top five of the jumping events each week and it happens."
The Jumbos are gearing up for the NESCAC Championships, the team's most highly anticipated event of the season. With the pressure starting to mount, the Jumbos are confident that they'll come through in the clutch.
"There is always a little more pressure once it becomes championship season," Cleveland said. "I guess the pressure is rising, but we have a lot of experienced leaders on this team and the freshmen are no stranger to high pressure situations. I don't think pressure will be a factor in our performances."
"NESCACs is always the biggest team meet of the year," Barron said. "We try to set our lineup to give us the best opportunity to win. However, each individual doesn't have to change anything. We go to the meet with the idea of showing the rest of the conference what we know we're capable of."
