While early-season track and field meets are focused on the progress of individuals rather than the team scores, it certainly doesn't hurt to score well -- something the men's track and field team managed to do against a host of Div. I opponents at the Skyhawk Invitational on Saturday. The Jumbos came away with 127 points in the field of 13 teams, falling only to host Stonehill, which took the win with 158 points.
Juniors Jared Engelking and Billy Hale brought home the Jumbos' two individual victories. Engelking won the 110-meter hurdles in 15.21 seconds, followed by senior quad-captain Skip Pagel and sophomore James Wheeler, who took sixth and eighth respectively.
Hale captured first in the 800-meter dash in a field of 27 runners with a time of 1:59.32, edging out Boston College senior James LaGreca by just 12 hundredths of a second. "Billy had a really strong day winning the 800," junior quad-captain Nick Welch said.
"He's a great example of the time not reflecting the effort that was there because we know that he is capable of much more than 1:59, but no matter what the time was, tactically, that was a great race."
Hale returned later that day to run a leg of the 4x400 relay, teaming up with Pagel and freshmen Connor Rose and Ben Crastnopol to finish fourth in the event, well behind the team from Bryant University.
Welch brought home one of the Jumbos' five second-place finishes, running 15:27.72 to take the runner-up position in the 5,000-meter run.
"[My race] accomplished the goal that we had going in, which was to run a bit of controlled race and feel good doing it," Welch said. "I think the time, with the effort that was there, was exactly what we were looking for."
"There were sort of four different races going on [in the 5k]," he continued. "One guy from [Boston College], who won it, was way ahead. I was running with a guy from Stonehill, and then a few other guys were a little ways back, so it wasn't the deepest overall. But it was good to have the kid from Stonehill to run behind and break a little bit of the wind."
Tufts junior Ryan Lena claimed second in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, finishing in 10:00.36.
"This was his first steeple of this season," Welch said. "Not only was he second, which is a great finish place-wise, but [his time was] a good bit ahead of where he was at this point last year, and of all events, the steeple takes some getting used to, even when you've done it in the past, so I think he will definitely be dropping time the very next time he runs it."
Sophomore Jeff Ragazzini ran a strong double for the Jumbos on Saturday. After taking fifth in the 1,500 meters in 4:05.37, Ragazzini returned to run one leg for the 4x800-meter relay team, which finished sixth.
"I was pretty happy since it was the first 1,500 that I ran, and it's faster than all I ran last year, so it's a good starting point," Ragazzini said. "This season, I think going under four [minutes] would be pretty awesome. There aren't too many minute barriers that you can break, so going under four would be a pretty big accomplishment."
Seniors Phil Rotella and Colin Fitzgerald, both seniors, both scored in all three of their events -- the 4x100-meter relay and the 100- and 200-meter dashes.
The 4x100-meter team, which also included freshmen Matt Williams and Crastnopol, placed third in 44.31 seconds.
Rotella also took third in the 100-meter dash and sixth in the 200 meters, followed by Fitzgerald, who finished fifth in the 100 and seventh in the 200.
Other top finishes for the Jumbos were junior Isaiah Paramore in the high jump, sophomore Sam Read in the pole vault and Williams in the hammer throw, each taking second in their respective events.
The Jumbos will compete in the Northeastern University Solomon Invitational Saturday, bringing with them the vast array of depth that has thus far propelled the squad to top finishes in each of its meets. The Jumbos can only expect to be faster next weekend, as wind and rain hampered the field on Saturday.
"If you look at the results, it might not look like the strongest meet we've had this season, indoor and outdoor combined," Welch said. "But a lot of that comes from the conditions -- things that are really out of our control on any given day, like weather. It was really windy, and that slows down the whole field ... We know where we'll be in a few weeks with a little warmer weather, and I think we'll be really happy with it."
"So many people are not at their primes yet, but a lot of guys definitely have proven that they're going to run well this season," Ragazzini added. "We covered almost all the races this weekend, and we showed that we can definitely run well in all of the events this year."
