The men's track and field team sent a small contingent of athletes to Lewiston, Maine on Saturday to participate in the Bates Pentathlon. It was the first true event of the season for the team, as last week's Husky Carnival - a non-scoring meet - was mainly just for freshmen and sophomores. The pentathlon also provided a chance to qualify for several postseason meets.
"Basically we wanted to go out there and we wanted everyone to qualify for Div. III New Englands," senior quad-captain Nate Scott said. "We needed 2,800 points to qualify, and each of us did it by over 200."
Scott finished first for the Jumbos and second overall, behind only Bates senior John Miley. When the two met last year at Div. III New Englands, it was Scott who placed first and Miley runner-up.
But on Saturday, Miley broke a school record in the pentathlon with his mark of 3,472 points, decimating Bates' previous mark of 3,381 points to earn the victory. While Scott was not able to finish first, he also set a new school record as well with a score of 3,422, breaking his 2006 mark of 3,415.
"Anytime you can go out there just trying to qualify and you break a school record, it's a good day," Scott said.
In addition to qualifying for Div. IIIs with his record-breaking score, Scott also qualified for New Englands for his performances in the 55-meter hurdles (8.20 seconds) and high jump (6.31 meters).
Senior Derek Engelking also turned in an impressive performance for the Jumbos, finishing third overall with a score of 3,173.
"My first two events, I didn't perform as well as I expected - the hurdles and the long jump," Engelking said. "My last three events were a little better, and overall I set a PR in the pentathlon, so it's hard to be disappointed."
The final Tufts participant in the pentathlon was sophomore Trevor Donadt, who finished eighth. He easily qualified for Div. IIIs with his score of 3,014, almost 400 points better than that of the ninth-place finisher. He also qualified for Div. III New Englands with his finish in the hurdles (8.09 seconds).
Participating unattached, coach Ethan Barron and assistant coach Kevin Bright took part in the event as well. Barron took fifth with 3,057 points, while Bright was just behind in sixth with 3,055.
"I think every guy out there impressed me today, even both of our coaches," Scott said. "Everyone finished above 3,000 points, and we had a few PRs out there as well."
Even with the strong finish at the pentathlon, the team feels as though it can do even better.
"We were missing two of our stronger athletes, my brother, [sophomore] Jared Engelking and [junior] Skip Pagel," Derek Engelking said. "As an event group, and with those guys, I feel very confident in our ability to do some pretty good things this year."
Pagel was an All-American in the decathlon last May.
Because everybody qualified for Div. IIIs as the team had hoped, they will not have to take part in multi events before New Englands. With so much time left to improve, the multi group has high aspirations for the end of the year.
"The next time we have a pentathlon is at Div. IIIs, but the big event is going to be the decathlon in the spring," Engelking said. "In the multi events from here on out, we're trying to score well for the team's benefit, but also for a personal benefit. We're all looking to qualify for Nationals and hopefully be All-Americans."
