Ever since the men's track and field team narrowly missed out on a league title at the NESCAC Championships on April 26, the focus has shifted away from team events and toward the individuals. Since the conference meet, the Jumbos have participated in the New England Div. III Championships and the Open New England Championships.
"At NESCACs, we really lay out as a team," senior quad-captain Jeremy Arak said. "New Englands happen during the middle of finals, and because it's the week after NESCACs, we can't go full gear. We end up resting a lot of guys, especially from the distance group. New Englands is more of an individual meet, but NESCACs are team-oriented."
At New Englands the weekend of May 2-3, several Jumbos witnessed individual success. Sophomore Trevor Donadt placed first in the 400-meter hurdles with his time of 54.36 seconds, more than a second ahead of the next-closest competitor, and also clinched second in the 110-meter.
In the high jump, both Arak and junior James Bradley cleared 6 feet, 4.75 inches, but it was Bradley who took the New England title, with Arak coming in second.
"I didn't care about coming second to a teammate," Arak said. "I was happy we were able to go first and second."
Other highlights included sophomore Ikenna Acholonu's third-place finish in the 110-meter hurdles and senior Joe Brown's hammer hurl of 172 feet, his best of the season. The toss earned Brown just seventh place, but it was well ahead of the NCAA provisional qualifying mark of 168 feet, 10 inches.
While the team ultimately came up short of the top prize, Tufts fought hard to win NESCACs the week before.
The squad did well in the 110-meter hurdles, as Acholonu won by exactly matching the NCAA provisional qualifying mark of 14.95 seconds, while Donadt and classmate Jared Engelking took second and third place, respectively. Donadt once again repeated his success from New Englands by winning the 400-meter hurdles.
Tufts also performed well in the distance events. Senior quad-captain Dave Sorensen, who had already set a NCAA provisional mark in the 3,000-meter steeplechase this season, did so again with a time of 9:10.73. The finish marked a four-second improvement from his last provisional mark and was good for first place in the event.
In the 5,000-meter run, sophomore Jesse Faller placed first with a time of 15:10.22, about five seconds ahead of the second-place finisher.
The other victory for the Jumbos on the day came in the high jump. Bradley, who qualified for Nationals during the indoor season, won the event with a jump of 6 feet, 5 inches, while Arak came in third.
"I was a little bit disappointed with my jump at NESCACs," Arak said. "Obviously third is good, but I won the last two years, so I was hoping we could place first and second for Tufts."
Fellow senior quad-captain Dan Marcy earned points in the other jumping events, as he placed second in the triple jump and fourth in the long jump.
"Overall, I was pretty happy with the day," Marcy said. "In the long jump, I was probably expected to finish a lot lower, so that was a surprise. As far as the triple jump, I was hoping to win and came up short by a centimeter, but it happens."
With these events out of the way, the team is now looking toward the NCAA Div. III Championships, which start Thursday at the University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh. Marcy, who earned All-American status by finishing second in the triple jump at indoor Nationals, will again be looking to make an impact.
