A slew of strong efforts earned the men's indoor track and field team an impressive second-place finish in the ECAC Championships at the Armory in New York City this weekend. Several athletes improved on their national qualifiers, while others capped their seasons off with strong performances.
Over the course of Friday and Saturday, Bates accumulated 69 points to win the meet among 62 scoring schools. The Jumbos earned 48 points for second, 14 points ahead of Amherst, which came in third.
On Saturday, sophomore Curtis Yancy earned the highest finish for the Jumbos with a victory in the weight throw. Yancy threw an impressive personal record of 61-4 1/4 to claim the ECAC title — a new best by over two meters.
"It was awesome. It showed what I have been doing in practice for several weeks now, but haven't been able to do it in a meet," Yancy said. "I was hitting better throws more consistently in practice lately which was good for my confidence and it showed that I was progressing along."
The mark puts him in 11th place in the Div. III NCAA national rankings and is the second-farthest throw in Tufts history, less than four inches off the school record of 61-8 1/2, which has remained untouched since 1951.
Freshman Brian Williamson also earned a strong finish in the throws, claiming runner-up in the shot put with a launch of 51-5 3/4.
Sophomore Andrew Osborne was a runner-up as well, earning 4,343 points over two days in the heptathlon. Osborne's highest point totals came from his long jump of 22-0 1/4 – the top mark among the heptathletes – and his 60-meter dash time of 7.41 seconds, which earned him 746 and 742 points, respectively.
Junior GbolaAjayi earned two scoring finishes, taking third in the long jump with a leap of 23-2 and sixth in the triple jump at 46-2 1/2. His triple jump on Saturday places him 13th on the NCAA list.
Junior Brad Nakanishi also earned points for the Tufts effort in a field event, clearing a height of 15-5 1/2 in the pole vault for seventh.
"Brad did well. He just missed nationals by one centimeter, which was hard for him and hard for the team to watch, but he's getting used to a new pole and he said that it will definitely take him to new heights," Yancy said.
On Saturday, junior Kyle Marks posted an impressive finish in the 3,000-meter run, finishing in a personal best time of 8:29.32, a new best by eight seconds.
"I thought that it was pretty much the best race that I could have hoped for, and the circumstances really played into my strategy and I was able to have a good kick which I needed to have," Marks said. "It started out with a couple guys going to the front and then there being a chase pack of a few guys including myself, and I wanted to stay in that second pack until about 1,000 meters to go and then make a move."
On the track Friday, the Distance Medley Relay (DMR) of sophomore Bobby McShane in the 1,200, sophomore Graham Beutler in the 400, junior Jeff Marvel in the 800 and senior tri-captain Connor Rose in the 1,600 earned third. The foursome combined for a time of 9:58.64, which ranks them 10th nationally.
"We were definitely happy with how we did as a team. Almost everyone improved," Yancy said. "Echoing something that Brad said after the meet, you can't replicate the energy at the Armory anywhere. There's nothing like it. The facilities … are amazing, there is music playing and there is always cheering going on for every event. There is really nothing like that."
Tufts also entered two relays at the IC4A Championships on Saturday to compete with Div. I teams. The 4x400 meter relay of Beutler, senior Ben Crastnopol, junior Vinnie Lee and freshman Francis Goins combined for a time of 3:16.36, setting the school record for the second week in a row. The time ranks the relay 11th nationally.
A second DMR for Tufts, consisting of senior Jeff Prescott in the 1,200, freshman Aaron Roseman in the 400, freshman Alex Sheltzer in the 800 and junior Matt Rand in the 1,600 clocked a time of 10:13.04.
While some Jumbos are preparing for nationals, most of the squad now turns to the outdoor spring season.
"In general, most of the guys feel like we've had really productive seasons, and a lot of us have improved a good amount," Marks said. "There were some guys who were unhappy that they got displaced as far as the national qualifiers, but individually a lot of guys had a lot to be happy about."
The Jumbos now have to wait for the final list of national bids to be released early this week to know who will be competing at the NCAA Div. III Championships at Grinnell College in Iowa this Friday and Saturday.
