The men's track and field team notched solid performances and personal bests across the board en route to winning the Tufts Invitational Stampede, hosted this weekend at the Gantcher Center. The squad tallied 125 points, well ahead of UMass Dartmouth's 87.5 points, among 22 scoring teams.
The meet kicked off Friday evening with the heptathlon, and two Tufts competitors took part in the action with four events that evening and three on Saturday.
Because Div. III men's indoor track and field institution switched from the pentathlon to the heptathlon this season, this weekend marked the first heptathlon for sophomore Andrew Osborne and freshman Allan Yau. The pair finished sixth and eighth with 3,820 and 2,822 points, respectively, among the seven events.
On Saturday, the Jumbos returned and earned three victories. Junior Matt Rand led an impressive slew of 3,000-meter athletes, clocking a personal-best time of 8:35.54.
"I've been battling with a few minor injuries over the last few weeks," Rand said, "so the goal going in was to just have a pain-free race, and I ended up feeling really good and getting an eight-second PR [personal record], so I was definitely happy with the result."
Sophomores Liam Cassidy and Brian McLaughlin were the next two across the line in the 3,000, rounding out the top three with times of 8:41.63 and 8:44.77. The mark was a new best for McLaughlin as well.
"Brian's race was very impressive," Rand said. "He ran four seconds faster than he did last weekend at BU, which is a much faster track where he had faster guys around him. Liam's race wasn't a lifetime PR, but it was a season best. He's been battling little injuries as well, so it was a step in the right direction for him."
Senior Jeff Prescott added the second victory on the track with a new personal best of 2:32.26 in the 1,000 meter, hitting the ECAC qualifier mark in the event.
"I was really happy with it," Prescott said. "It was different than most races I've run before in the sense that I wasn't able to latch onto an athlete in front of me or work off of somebody else. It was really just me pushing against myself to see how hard I could go.
"I had a goal in mind of what I wanted to run and the confidence in myself that I could run it," he added, "but it was the friends and family and the energy surrounding the track for the last two laps that helped me push through."
In the pole vault, Junior Brad Nakanishi ‘s clearance of 14-7 1/4 earned him first place amongst 20 vaulters.
Freshman PtahOsayande added a runner-up performance in the 60-meter hurdles, finishing in 8.60 seconds. Junior GbolaAjayi also placed second with his leap of 22-3 in the long jump.
In the throws, freshman Brian Williamson took third in the shot put with a toss of 48-0 3/4. Junior Curtis Yancy's launch of 52-10 1/4 earned him third in the weight throw, one place ahead of senior tri-captain Adam Aronson.
On Saturday, the squad will split between Boston University's Valentine Invitational and their last home meet of the winter season, marking their final meets before the New England Div. III Championships on Feb. 17 and 18 at MIT.
