With the looming NESCAC Championship now one week away, the men's track and field team took its final steps of preparation, competing in both the Larry Ellis Invitational at Princeton and the annual MIT Invitational on Saturday.
Four runners, including senior quad-captain Dave Sorensen and sophomore Nick Welch, made the trip to New Jersey, while the rest of the team competed at MIT on Saturday. While neither meet was scored, the Jumbos still gained some valuable practice the week before the biggest meet of the season.
Sophomore Billy Hale was happy with the way the team performed at MIT.
"First of all, it was a great day for a track meet," Hale said. "People were just happy to be running outside without having to be really cold. In terms of performances, from what I saw, it seemed like everyone had a good day overall."
The Jumbos, despite resting several athletes who have already provincially qualified, displayed some solid performances at MIT. Senior quad-captain Dan Marcy led the way, improving his NCAA mark with a first-place finish in the triple jump (14.72 meters).
Marcy also finished second in the long jump with a distance of 6.41 meters. Sophomore Ikenna Acholonu finished second in the 110-meter hurdles (15.34 seconds) while senior quad-captain Nathan Scott finished fifth in the same event. Scott also impressed in the 400-meter hurdles, taking third, while sophomore Billy Hale placed third in the 1,500-meter race.
"It was a PR," Hale said. "You can never complain with a PR. I was pleased to get a fast time and I know I can improve on that time in the upcoming meets."
Other notable performances included senior Joe Brown's second-place showings in both the hammer throw and the discus event and senior quad-captain Jeremy Arak's first-place finish in the high jump. Sophomore Jesse Faller rounded off the Jumbos first-place finishers, dominating the 5,000 meter race.
While Tufts enjoyed solid performances from leaders like Marcy and Arak, it was the Jumbos' underclassmen who stole the show, highlighting a theme that has helped the team to success all season.
"I can't say enough about how the underclassmen have performed this year," Hale said. "Especially our hurdling team, guys like [sophomores Trevor Donadt, Jared Engelking] and Ikenna. We have such an elite hurdle crew and our sprinters like [sophomores Andrew Longley and Scott Brinkman] have both really stepped up and shown they are going to be forces next year. Our team is definitely top heavy in terms of talent. It's good to know we have a great squad of young guys."
"You can tell from the results [the underclassmen] have been a big part of our team and a big source of points," Welch added. "That's how it was indoors and it seems to be continuing during outdoors. They ran great Saturday."
Several sophomores showcased the depth of the team this Saturday, with Longley placing fifth in the 200-meter dash and fourth in the 400-meter dash, while Brinkman finished right behind him in the 400-meter dash.
While the majority of the team traveled to MIT on Saturday, Welch and Sorensen made the trek south to Princeton, N.J. on Friday to take part in the Larry Ellis Invitational. Sorensen finished 16th in the pack of 78 athletes in the 5,000-meter run, with a provincially qualifying time of 14:43.13, while Welch finished 53rd with a time of 15:10.49.
"It was a good experience to go down there again," Welch said. "Sorensen ran really well and even though I know he thought he could have gone faster, he still ran a provincially qualifying time for Nationals, which is awesome. I'm not as happy with my race; I didn't feel great going into it, and I'm not sure why. It was still good to get down there and get a fast 5k against some Div. I guys and it's always a learning experience even if the time isn't there."
As the Jumbos now lie one week away from the climax of the season, both Hale and Welch believe that the team is ready to take the next step towards the championship banner.
"I think we are pretty ready," Hale said. "Every team has injuries but in terms of our major guys, they are pretty healthy. Everyone is excited about the weather being nice so that mentally helps us out a lot. It just feels better in the warmth."
"This is definitely the big key meet we make a big push for," Welch added. "We are as motivated for it as ever especially coming off the Williams tie last year and then winning the indoor team championship meet. We now want to take NESCAC's decisively if we can. We are really going to go after it."
