It won't be easy, senior co-captain Sam Read admits, for the men's track and field team to replace what coach Ethan Barron in the spring called "one of the best classes to ever suit up" for the Jumbos.
The three Jumbos who went to the NCAA outdoor championships in the spring were all seniors — Trevor Donadt (E '10), Jared Engelking (LA '10) and Jesse Faller (E '10). Faller was a six-time All-American in both track and cross country, making him one of Tufts' finest long-distance runners of all time. Engelking was an All-American in the decathlon and took home the 110-meter hurdle title at last spring's NESCAC meet.
Donadt earned two All-Conference awards during his career, including a first-place finish in the NESCAC 400-meter hurdles in the 2009-2010 season.
Last year, the Jumbos had an impressive second-place team finish at NESCACs, and Barron won Coach of the Year accolades for the fourth time in five years. But staying consistent after losing so much talent to graduation will be an uphill battle.
"You can't really replace someone like Jared, or Jesse," Read said. "We lost a lot of good guys. But the younger guys are good, too. We had six freshmen last year who were All-NESCAC."
The team's top performers last year were undoubtedly its seniors, but its depth laid with these underclassmen. Of Tufts' 12 All-NESCAC performers in the spring's meet, seven will return to the team this year: the aforementioned six, now sophomores, and senior Alex Gresham.
Three of the four runners who made up a NESCAC-best 4-x-100 relay team — sophomores Gbola Ajayi, Lomie Cunningham and Vinnie Lee — return. So do sophomores Brad Nakanishi and Michael Blair, in the spring top in the NESCAC in the pole vault and high jump, respectively.
Sophomore Jeff Marvel returns, as well, after placing third in the NESCAC 800-meter race as a freshman last year.
Meanwhile, Gresham looks to build on his third-place finish in the NESCAC hammer throw.
This team may not have the star power of last year's squad, but it looks like depth will not be an issue. According to Read, neither will focus and determination. The team has been gearing up since early September for the season, which starts Dec. 4 at Northeastern University's Husky Invitational.
"The cross country guys have all had a great season, and this has been one of the best fall training sessions that I've ever been a part of," Read said.
Read and junior co-captain Jeff Prunier have been leading captains' practices this fall for the team's sprinters. Many of the team's long-distance runners are also on the cross country team, which just missed qualifying for NCAAs at last week's New England Regional meet.
Sophomore Kyle Marks will take his talents to Iowa for this weekend's NCAA meet as the sole Tufts qualifier, while fellow sophomore Matt Rand — who finished just two seconds behind Marks at Regionals — is expected to help anchor the team's long distance squad as well.
"It's great to watch the results come in from cross country," Prunier said. "We get to kind of live vicariously through their results."
Prunier said that he has been impressed with the intensity of the new group of first-years who have shown up so far at workouts. The leadership of this team comes from the seniors, but the role of the hungry younger members is just as crucial.
"Our youth is really our strong point," Prunier said. "We have a group of really talented sophomores and freshmen, with tons of energy. During the fall season, when we don't really get to compete, they've done a great job of energizing the upperclassmen. The freshman class came in great shape and really motivated, which was a great thing to see."
The team will spend most of the year at road meets but will race at Tufts on Jan. 15 at the Tufts Invitational, Feb. 4-5 for the Tufts Pentathalon and the second Tufts Invitational, and the following week at the final Tufts Invitational on Feb. 12.
