The seven-team field at Saturday's Coast Guard Invitational was quickly whittled down to a two-team competition between the host Bears and the visiting Jumbos. In the end, however, Tufts pulled out the victory, taking first at its second outdoor event of the spring season with 224 points.
The rest of the pack finished far behind, as Div. II New Haven, Wesleyan and Conn. College rounded out the top five with scores of 87, 66 and 59, respectively.
"It was a solid performance by a team who found themselves in events that were not their primary events," coach Ethan Barron said. "Coast Guard put in a great push at the end with the discus and 5k that made the meet finish up a lot closer than it felt all day."
In addition to five first-place victories, the Jumbos boasted several top-five finishes. Senior Mickey Ferri led the Jumbos, finishing first in the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.27 seconds. Ferri also ran with the Tufts A 4x100 relay team, joining junior Nathan Scott, senior tri-captain Fred Jones and freshman Andrew Longley as they captured the race's top spot with a clip of 43.23 seconds. The Jumbos just snuck by New Haven, which checked in at 43.25 seconds.
"Mickey is leading our young, talented sprinting crew, which has produced a lot of great performances in both indoor and the young outdoor season," senior tri-captain Nate Cleveland said.
With strong performances across the board, the Tufts relay teams proved they are a force to be reckoned with. Besides the 4x100 A team's first-place effort, the B team of sophomores Kevin Fitzgerald and Ashish Datta and freshmen Marc Soskin and Isaiah Paramore held their own, finishing fourth with a time of 45.33 seconds. Tufts' 4x400 A squad of senior Dustin Virgilio, Scott, and freshmen Scott Brinkman and Dan Stone also beat out its competitors, winning the race in 3:26.17, while the 4x400 B team placed seventh.
"We have great depth in our sprints this year," Barron said. "Both relays are capable of much faster times. We were pleased with the two first-place finishes, but we definitely have the capabilities to go sub-43.0 and 3:20 this year."
"I thought the relay teams performed really well," Cleveland said. "The 4x100 ran smoothly and had pretty good handoffs, which is something we are always looking to improve, and the 4x400 ran strongly against a good field."
Other notable performances included those of reliable freshman Ikenna Acholonu, who finished first in 110-meter hurdles with a mark of 15.46 seconds; Scott, who won the 400-meter hurdles in 58 seconds; sophomore James Bradley and junior Jeremy Arak, who finished second and third in the high jump, respectively; and senior tri-captain Fred Jones, who took second in the long jump.
"Since we all compete individually and some of our meets are not scored, it's easy to forget what we are all running for - a team victory," senior tri-captain Dave McCleary said. "The first-place finish definitely boosts our team morale."
With the first team victory of the season in the books, the Jumbos will be looking to improve their times as they head towards the all-important NESCAC Championships at the end of the month.
"We're on our way," Barron said. "We will move into our final stages of training soon and that will seriously help every athlete finish with a newfound power and explosiveness."
But if the Jumbos are to emulate their early season success down the line, they will have to continue to lean on their seniors for both inspiration and leadership.
"They are one of the strongest and most talented group of seniors that I've ever coached," Barron said. "They have been a joy to work with all the way through their freshmen year."
