The men's track and field team showed its incredible depth and youth at the Springfield College Invitational on Saturday, taking second in the meet despite having no first−place finishes and only scoring in the top three in six events.
The Jumbos outscored the hosts 99 to 92, but the meet was far−and−away dominated by MIT with 215 points and nine individual victories.
Tufts received the first of its runner−up performances in the 1,000−meter race from sophomore Sam Haney, who ran a time of 2:35.28. Haney was accompanied in the scoring by freshmen Brian McLaughlin and Jake McCauley in sixth and eighth, respectively.
Freshman Ben Wallis also secured a second−place finish in his first−ever 5,000−meter race. Wallis crossed by the line with a time of 15:23.63, and was supported by sophomore Tyler Andrews in fifth and freshman Liam Cassidy in seventh.
"I was happy with how it went. It was my first 5K, so I didn't really go in expecting much," Wallis said. "I just wanted to go out and keep steady 37−second laps and see how I felt from there, and if I felt like I was doing well try to crank up the pace at the end. It worked out relatively well, and I picked it up with a 1,000 to go.
"I worked with Tyler earlier on in the race, and it was good to have someone with a bit more experience than myself with me at the beginning to try to settle into the pace," Wallis added. "He definitely helped me with the pace. I would have gone out a bit faster if he hadn't been there to set the tone."
Freshman Jamie Norton continued the distance success with a third−place finish in the mile run. In his first race ever on the track, Norton finished in 4:28.67, breaking away from the pack in his heat, one of the fastest on the day.
"The mile was really impressive," Wallis said. "It was Jamie's first track race ever, and he had a phenomenal race … and then he came back in the 4x800 to run a 2:00 or 2:01 in his split. Easily I think the performer of the meet for Tufts was Jamie."
Sophomore Kyle Marks was also a top performer in the mile, taking fourth in a time of 4:29.01, with classmate Matt Rand in sixth and veteran Nick Welch (LA '10) scoring in eighth.
In the 800−meter run, the Jumbos managed to have three scorers among 27 competitors. They were led by sophomore Jeff Marvel in third with a time of 1:59.81, just edging out freshman Bobby McShane in fourth with a time of 2:00.87. Sophomore Adam Brosh rounded out the scorers with an eighth−place finish.
Sophomore Vinnie Lee placed in two races on Saturday, taking sixth in the 55−meter dash in 6.75 seconds and returning to the track to place fifth in the 200−meter dash with a time of 23.69 seconds, just a hundredth of a second ahead of freshman teammate Graham Beutler in fifth.
With a time of 1:25.95, sophomore Dan Kirschner took fourth in the 600−meter run, while the 4x400 relay team had a fifth place finish in 3:35.05.
The Jumbos kept up the scoring right until the end of the long day, taking second in the 4x800, the final event on the track, running a time of 8:10.99 with a team of Haney, Marvel, McShane and Norton.
In the final field event of the day, Tufts also secured a runner−up finish, with sophomore Brad Nakanishi clearing a height of 14'11" while senior co−captain Sam Read took fourth, clearing 14'5.25".
The only other field event in which the Jumbos took home points on Saturday was the long jump, where sophomore Gbola Ajayi took fifth with a personal best jump of 21'1.25". Freshman Andrew Osborne was close behind in seventh with a distance of 20'7.25".
The Jumbos are optimistic about what their early season successes will bring them come championship season.
"The game plan wasn't like we were setting up the races to win them … We were just trying to each go out and give performances that would qualify us for championship meets," Wallis said. "I think everyone went out there and had good performances. Some people didn't have PR performances, but they showed relative consistency.
"I think we are setting ourselves up well, because we don't want to peak now; we want to peak in February," Wallis continued. "Everyone has more in them. They can race and jump and throw better, but for a weekend in January I think everyone did well."
The squad will look to continue its success this weekend, split between two venues: the Terrier Classic at Boston University on Friday and Saturday and the Bowdoin Invitational on Saturday.
