The men's and women's track and field teams are in New York City this weekend for the ECAC Championships, held at the Armory. In the last meet of the season before nationals, some Jumbos will look to secure their bids to NCAAs by improving their national qualifying marks, while others will try to cap off their seasons with strong performances.
This afternoon, the Jumbos will kickoff their weekend in the field events. Senior Heather Theiss and junior Brad Nakanishi will both look to best their heights in the pole vault to secure a trip to nationals. The pair sits in 10th and 11th on the women's and men's national Div. III performance lists, respectively. Junior GbolaAjayi will also try to lock up a spot at nationals in the triple jump after a stellar personal best in the event this past weekend.
"The goals for this meet really differ from person to person," said Dan Murner, an assistant coach for both squads. "For some like Heather, [junior] Kelly [Allen] and Brad, they are trying to strengthen their nationals bid. For others, like the women running the 5k, they are trying to put a capstone on a great season, run some PRs and use the meet as a springboard to a strong outdoor season."
On the track this evening, both squads' Distance Medley Relay (DMR) teams will be trying to earn national bids. On the men's side, sophomore Bobby McShane will lead off in the 1,200-meter leg, handing off to classmate Graham Beutler in the 400, junior Jeff Marvel in the 800 and senior co-captain Connor Rose in the 1,600.
The foursome will look to improve on its current time of 10:03.47 (converted), which ranks 11th nationally. The group looks fit to do so, after all four ran impressive marks in their respective distances at the Open New England Championships last weekend, including a school-record mark in the 800 for Marvel and the second-fastest mile in Tufts history by Rose.
On the women's side, sophomore Laura Peterson will lead off in the 1,200, combining with junior Sam Bissonnette in the 400, sophomore Jana Hieber in the 800 and senior Anya Price in the 1,600 to try to best last weekend's mark of 12:07.83.
"The men's and women's DMR will be exciting to watch because they are both on the fence for qualifying for nationals," Murner said. "Both the men's squad and the women's squad will have to drop a few seconds to do so, but they are definitely ready to go. The hardest part is getting to nationals. Once they get there, both squads are in a great spot to get All-American."
Allen will lead the throwers tomorrow in the weight throw and shot put, where she currently sits in seventh and 14th on the national performance lists, respectively.
Tomorrow on the track, the men's 4x400 relay squad of Beutler, senior Ben Crastnopol, junior Vinnie Lee and freshman Francis Goins will look to best the school-record time they set last Saturday (3:17.36), which is tied for 11th nationally. The women's foursome of Bissonnette, Hieber, senior Dayorsha Collins and junior Alyssa Corrigan will look to outrun their season-best time of 3:56.57 from Saturday.
