Split between two venues this weekend, the men's track and field team brought home a set of strong performances to conclude the season for most of the Jumbos.
Five runners headed to BU for the IC4As on Saturday afternoon, all with hopes of improving their NCAA provisional qualifiers.
The Distance Medley Relay (DMR) succeeded in its overarching goals, crossing the line in a time of 9:58.46 on the banked track, which converts to 10:01.46 and improves their previous qualifier of 10:08.68.
Yet in an extremely competitive year, the time ranks the Jumbos 15th nationally, whereas it would have put them sixth on the list last season.
With 11 teams accepted to NCAAs in 2010 and 10 teams in 2009, the Jumbos' prospects this year, after having qualified in the event the past two seasons, are not good.
Freshman Jamie Norton led off the relay with the 1,200-meter leg, staying at the front of the pack and passing off to classmate Graham Beutler for the 400-meter leg. Sophomore Jeff Marvel took the baton for the 800 and classmate Sam Haney anchored in the 1,600-meter leg, crossing the line first in their preliminary heat. Marvel previously qualified for Nationals in the 800-meter individual event.
"We were happy with the race overall, but we were a little disappointed we didn't make it," said Haney, who ran the 1,200-meter leg at NCAAs last season. "But I don't think it was anyone in particular's fault. I think a little bit of time could have been chipped off each leg [but we were just] unlucky — the pack going out slow in Jamie's second lap [and] Marvel getting cut off. If we had each gone under a second faster, we would have gotten it, but everyone ran their hearts out, so I don't think anyone is too disappointed."
Unfortunately for Tufts, the Jumbos' heat went out slowly for the first leg: Tufts' time was the slowest of the winners of the three heats, and the DMR's finish ranked it sixth overall among 25 teams.
"Jamie got a little unlucky with the pack going slow. Aside from the first two laps, he ran the whole race in lane two or three. So knowing that, it's pretty amazing he ran the time he did," Haney said. "The second lap was a little slow, and as soon as he saw that, he started moving up and going around people. It was a great race, especially for a freshman."
Though their performance qualified them for the finals on Sunday — an impressive feat for a Div. I meet — the entries for NCAAs were closed Saturday night, so the team did not compete again.
But this young team still has two more years to earn a national bid, if it doesn't work out his year. After losing major contributors Jesse Faller (E '10) and Billy Hale (LA '10), each of whom raced at Nationals, the Jumbos have put together a foursome of first- and second- years who are right on the heels of national-qualifying times and of the school-record time of 9:56.97, set in 2010 at BU.
"It bodes really well for next year," Haney said. "It's great to have a young team, but it's only good if we keep working hard and getting better and if we do that I think we can be really good down the road.
Junior Connor Rose, who is also a senior staff writer for the Daily, competed at BU as well, looking to improve his qualifier in the 800-meter. Though he did not do so, his 1:53.04 is still ranked 10th nationally, so Rose will accompany Marvel to NCAAs next weekend as the two Tufts representatives in the event.
The rest of the Jumbos traveled to the Armory in New York City on Friday and Saturday for the ECAC Championships.
On Friday, sophomore Michael Blair took eighth in the pentathlon with a score of 3151, while freshman Liam Cassidy took eighth in the 3,000-meter run with a time of 8:44.25.
"There was only one heat of the 3K, and it was a fairly sizeable heat, so Liam knew that where he finished in that race was where he would finish in the meet and that he could completely ignore the clock," junior Jeffrey Prescott said. "He may have gotten a little too relaxed at the beginning, so he was sitting on the back of the pack at the 1,000, but he made a great move right after the mile. He moved up from second-to-last to eighth place, where he finished."
Prescott came home from the meet with a personal record (PR) in the 1,000-meter run, finishing in 2:33.15, besting his previous PR of 2:35.34 at BU's Valentine Invitational three weekends ago.
"I wanted to settle in for the first 400 meters and then gauge where my fitness level was and try to make a move at 500 meters, because that's when people start to slow up a bit in the 1,000," said Prescott, who has been battling injury all season. "From the gun, I got out quick and kind of threw the strategy out the window. I just took what the race gave me and went with it."
The Jumbos finished the ECAC Championships with just two points this weekend, good enough for 47th place, compared to a 24th-place finish in 2010.
While Marvel and Rose will travel to Capital University in Ohio for NCAAs this weekend, the rest of the squad will shift to preparing for the outdoor season.
