Youth was the theme last Saturday at the Wheaton Invitational for the men's track and field team, as the Jumbos came away with a fourth'minus;place finish among 10 teams, marked by individual victories by a pair of freshmen.
First'minus;years Matt Rand and Curtis Yancy helped Tufts to 68 points in the overall standings, far behind NESCAC foe Williams, which took the overall standings with 123.5 points. Host Wheaton and Div. II Stonehill rang in second and third, respectively.
Rand and classmate Kyle Marks gave Tufts an auspicious start, taking first and second in the day's first running event, the 5,000'minus;meter race. Rand crossed the line in 15:15.31, followed by Marks in 15:23.73. The next closest competitor, Conn. College junior Shawn Mulcahy, was nearly 11 seconds back of Marks.
'The team had one of its most impressive meets that I've seen as a Tufts athlete, which is very unexpected for this early in the season,' junior Jeff Ragazzini said. 'The distance squads looked to be in great shape.'
Yancy won the shot put with a throw of 13.88 meters, two'minus;tenths of a meter ahead of Williams' Rusty Cowher. Yancy also took third in the weight throw with a distance of 13.70 meters and was followed closely by junior teammate Alex Gresham, whose 13.64'minus;meter throw was good for fourth.
'I was happy about [my performance] then, but I need to throw farther,' Yancy said. 'I am never really satisfied with how I throw ... I threw shot in high school, but I had not touched the weight until I came here, so I am still getting used to the weight.
'It is not much different than high school,' Yancy continued, speaking about the transition to collegiate meets. 'It's just that I have never thrown indoors before, so that was different for me. I used to sit in the grass and kind of mediate before my throw, but I couldn't do that because I was inside.'
The Jumbos' middle'minus;distance squad posted a strong performance in the 800'minus;meter run, with three athletes placing in the top six in a 43'minus;competitor field. Senior quad'minus;captain Billy Hale started fast out of the blocks and finished in 1:56.33 to finish as the runner'minus;up just two'minus;tenths of a second off the winning time. Senior classmates Jason Hanrahan and Scott Brinkman took fourth and sixth in the race, with times of 1:57.21 and 1:58.24, respectively.
'There are a whole slew of guys who walked away from that meet with a lot of confidence in their fitness,' Ragazzini said. 'To name a few'hellip;[sophomore] Jeff Prescott ran a gutsy and aggressive [personal record] in the mile, [freshman] Dan Kirschner returned from injury to run a great 400['minus;meter race] in his collegiate track debut and first'minus;timers [sophomore] Tobie Reeuwijk and [freshman] Mike Blair both lowered their hurdle times closer to the New England qualifier.'
Ragazzini's own performance added to the list of impressive races for the day, as the third'minus;year finished second in the mile, running a time of 4:20.31, three seconds off of Stonehill junior Daniel Pilz' first'minus;place mark.
'I'm pleased with how I ran on Saturday,' Ragazzini said. 'Since the season has just started, 4:20 is a good indication that I still have a strong aerobic base from cross country, and that I'm ready for the real work that will get us prepped for the championship races in February and March.'
The impressive marks posted at Wheaton, a meet nearly a month before the New England Div.'minus;III Championships, which will be held at Bates College on Feb. 19'minus;20, give a good indication of what is to come for the young Jumbos. 'I think a strong showing in mid'minus;January shows that we have all been diligent,' Ragazzini said. 'There was no slacking off in the fall or over the holidays. This team is focused.'
Tufts will split up to compete in two meets this Saturday, with some of the squad attending the Terrier Classic at Boston University and the rest traveling to the Bowdoin Invitational before returning to the Gantcher Center on consecutive days to host the Tufts Pentathalon and the Tufts Invitational II.
At least for the throwers, the upcoming meets could serve as a chance for the Jumbos to prove themselves.
'As a throwing squad, we want to finally be a force in the NESCAC,' Yancy said. 'In the history of Tufts throwers, they have been pretty bad, and we want to change that this year and next year and start really bringing some points to the team in the field.'
