Just two weeks after their monumental first-place performance at the New England Div. III Championships, the men's track and field team put up another impressive showing last weekend in its final meet before the NCAA National Championships, capturing fourth out of 58 teams at the ECAC Championships at Harvard.
The Jumbos scored 35 points, a mark that was only surpassed by Nazareth (38), Moravian (59), and St. Lawrence, whose 69 points were enough to win the overall competition. Southern Maine rounded out the top five, scoring 28 points.
Senior quad-captain Dave Sorensen, who did not participate in the meet, was very pleased with the way his teammates performed.
"There were a lot of good performances," Sorensen said. "I know one of the surprising times was [sophomore] Nick Welch because he was tripped early in the race. [Senior quad-captain] Dan Marcy was probably the highlight of the meet with his automatic-qualifying triple-jump performance. It was definitely a different feel because too many people didn't go to this meet."
Marcy had a truly breakout performance for Tufts, launching himself 48 feet, 2.5 inches in the triple jump, two inches beyond the NCAA automatic-qualifying mark and setting a new personal record by a whopping 15 inches. His effort also put him mere inches away from Fred Jones' (LA '07) indoor school record in the event.
"It was a great weekend," Welch said. "We broke two school records. Most of the guys that we had competing did great. It's bittersweet, because we beat a record, but the team that held that record was an All-American team, and we're not. Overall it was a good week."
Despite fielding a small group of competitors, the Jumbos still enjoyed several strong performances in a number of different events. With stiff competition in the form of several NESCAC rivals such as Williams, the Jumbos were led by Marcy and fellow senior quad-captain Nate Scott, who set both meet and school records with his 3,587 points in the pentathlon.
"It makes you realize we definitely have some really great guys as captains," Welch said. "We really have the best athletes as captains. I don't know how to put it, but it's really inspiring to see your captains step up and perform like that."
Other notable performances included senior Derek Engelking finishing runner-up behind Scott in the pentathlon, with 3,475 points of his own, and senior quad-captain Jeremy Arak securing third place in the high jump, with a height of six feet, 6.25 inches. Senior Joe Brown rounded out Tufts' scoring performances, placing eighth in the weight throw with a distance of 15.83 meters.
With ECACs behind them, the Jumbos now look ahead to the final competition of the season, this weekend's NCAA Championships. Tufts learned Saturday that three competitors would get the chance represent the Jumbos at Ohio Northern University - Sorensen in the mile, Marcy in the triple jump and junior James Bradley in the high jump.
"We're all definitely going to be excited to go," Sorensen said. "You are at the top of the country and it's a nervous excitement. We are more excited to see what we can put together and see if we can succeed."
Though the Jumbos had hoped to send more participants to Nationals, they are still hoping to string together a strong team performance.
"At Nationals, the most teams usually qualify is 10 competitors, which would be a big team," Welch said. "Three is what we're sending; we thought we might send six, but we didn't ... Last year, Fred Jones got us to score seventh overall, even though he was the only competitor for Tufts. I think they have a great chance to come away with some solid performances and score points."
With the indoor season essentially over, both Welch and Sorensen reflected on the past season, citing both the Jumbos' accomplishments and the areas where they can improve.
"Each athlete has a goal in the track office," Welch said. "And the vast majority had as a goal to win New Englands. So for us to be able to cross that one off was a big deal. The season wasn't perfect; we were far from it. There are things we could have worked on and done better."
"I would definitely say without a doubt that this was the most successful season as a team," Sorensen said. "Finally being able to win New Englands was exciting. I think we are putting together a more balanced team after we lost Fred Jones last year, and I think it's going to continue since we are such a young team."
