DISTANCE MEDLY RELAY, MEN'S TRACK AND FIELD
The age-old advice states to always save the best for last. For the Jumbos' distance medley relay, next-to-last isn't so bad.
With the rest of the squad at the ECAC Championships, four Tufts runners went to Boston University to run in the IC4A Championship on the Terriers' banked track. And the Jumbos came away with a school record and an NCAA automatic qualifying time in the process.
Sophomore Ben Crastnopol, senior Jesse Faller, senior quad-captain Billy Hale and senior Matt Tirrell posted a time of 9:56.97 which was converted to a final mark of 9:59.97 due to the banked track, three-hundredths of a second under the qualifying time of 10 minutes. With that final time, Tufts is currently ranked fourth nationally and is slated to compete at the 2010 NCAA Div. III Championships next weekend at DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana.
The mark also shattered the old time of 9:59.33, which was set last year by Hale, Faller, Phil Rotella (LA '09) and current senior Scott Brinkman.
COLLEEN HART, WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
In Tufts' overtime loss to Bowdoin in the NESCAC quarterfinals, junior tri-captain Colleen Hart shot 3-for-17 from the field, including 1-for-9 from beyond the arc. She came back for NCAA play for two of the best shooting performances of the season.
Against nationally-ranked No. 2 Kean University, Hart shot 8-for-10 from three-point range while playing all 40 minutes and contributing 28 points. Despite Kean's victory which ended Tufts' season, Hart shot 72 of 159 from three this year, finishing fifth in the nation and setting a Tufts single-season and career record in three-point percentage and threes made.
Against Muhlenberg, Hart won the battle of All-Conference point guards against junior Kelly McKeon. Hart, a member of the All-NESCAC's First Team, added another 26 points on 10-for-19 shooting. Meanwhile, she limited McKeon, the Centennial Conference Player of the Year, to eight points on 3-for-13 shooting. The Jumbos beat Muhlenberg in a game they never trailed.
Hart, who averaged a NESCAC-best 17.3 points per game on the season, will be one of four returning starters on next year's team.
