Just a week away from the the Div. III New England Championships, the Jumbos will hit the track once more this weekend to hit some final qualifiers and stay sharp.
The men's track and field team will compete in two facilities. The majority of the sprinting and distance squads will travel to Boston University on Saturday to compete in the Valentine Invitational, while the field athletes will stay at the Gantcher Center to compete in the familiar jumping pits, vaulting mats and throwing circles at the Tufts Invitational III.
This weekend marks the final chance to hit qualifiers for New Englands for the athletes who haven't already done so, and a chance to improve seedings for those who have.
"The main goal is just building confidence going into Div. IIIs," senior Jerzy Eisenberg−Guyot said. "A lot of people are running their main events this weekend, so it's just about getting off on the right foot going into the championships."
The Valentine Invitational promises fast times and tough competition on its banked track, with professional runners competing alongside athletes from Div. I, II and III schools.
"Everyone is looking to run pretty well this weekend," senior co−captain Jeff Prunier said. "It's a good tune−up for Div. IIIs. I think some of the guys who have chances for great meets are [sophomores] Jeff Marvel in the 800 — he's been training really well — and Sam Haney in the mile — he's being running a lot of distance and now he's working on his speed."
For some of the sprinters, Saturday will be their first exposure to running on a banked track and they will look for their times to drop accordingly.
According to Prunier, other Jumbos to watch out for on Saturday are sophomore Vinnie Lee in the 200−meter dash and junior Connor Rose in the 800−meter run.
On the distance side, sophomores Kyle Marks and Matt Rand and freshman Liam Cassidy will look to improve on the 3,000−meter times, while graduate Nick Welch (LA '10) will look to do the same in the 5,000−meter event.
The lone men's event on Friday is the Distance Medley Relay (DMR), with the other events following on Saturday. The team will consist of Beutler in the 400, Marvel in the 800, freshman Jamie Norton in the 1200 and Haney in the 1600. Tufts has competed in the DMR at the NCAAs for the last two years and in 2009 placed third.
"A really great race for them would qualify for Nationals, but a good race would hopefully get us into a good heat in some later championship meets," Eisenberg−Guyot said.
A pack of distance runners will be competing at home this weekend for the 3,000−meter run, in what should be a competitive race.
"This year BU made pretty hard qualifying standards for the 3k [and 5k], so I think a lot of people who would have normally run at BU will be running at Tufts," Eisenberg−Guyot said. "It will be a pretty fast race and I think if we just stick with the pack and try to hold on, it will work out." Eisenberg−Guyot is one of the runners gunning to hit the 8:55 qualifying standard for Div. IIIs on Saturday.
The group will also feature senior Andrew Bellet, sophomore Luke Maher and freshman Benji Hansen, accompanied by freshman Ben Wallis who hit the standard earlier in the season.
The field athletes should be comfortable competing at home in the Tufts Invitational. The throwers will look to continue building on the momentum they gained last weekend, when the squad hit personal records and qualifiers, while the pair of pole−vaulters — senior co−captain Sam Read and sophomore Brad Nakanishi — will look to tune up this weekend after enjoying a strong start to the season.
"Sam Read is feeling more comfortable on a bigger pole, so he's looking to have a big meet right now as he's heading into Div. IIIs," Prunier said.
The home meet on Saturday will have a different atmosphere since many of the Tufts runners will be missing. Fewer athletes will line the track to cheer on the final relays of the day and the noise coming from the Jumbos' section might be a lot quieter, but that won't deter the Jumbos in the field events from their goals.
