The men's track and field team ended its regular season with strong performances at MIT and Princeton this past weekend, and is now in solid position for the NESCAC Championships coming up on Saturday.
Junior Jeff Marvel and sophomore Ben Wallis kicked off the weekend on Friday with two solid efforts at the Larry Ellis Invitational, hosted by Princeton. Marvel clocked a time of 1:51.98 in the 800-meter run, a mark that ranks him eighth nationally among Div. III athletes and puts him in good position to earn a trip to NCAAs.
"I ran a time that will in all likelihood qualify me for nationals in May, but there is still a lot left in the tank," Marvel said. "I think, in a better race, I could run a much faster time. That was also about a half-second off the school record, so I would have liked to have gotten that. But at the end of the day, it was a good step forward."
The time was good for 21st in a field of 71 athletes that featured top competition from across all three divisions.
In the steeplechase, Wallis crossed the line in 9:28.23, a time that currently ranks in the national top 30.
"Ben had been injured for a while and taking time off, and he is just now running consistently, but he took seven seconds off what he ran last weekend," Marvel said. "Once he starts getting some more weeks of running in, I think he's going to run some very fast times. This weekend was a positive step forward."
On Saturday, the rest of the squad traveled to the MIT Spring Invitational. The Jumbos earned two victories in the non-scoring meet, with junior GbolaAjayi taking first in the long jump with a distance of 22-6 1/2 and classmate Tyler Andrews winning the 5,000-meter run in 15:18.93. Andrews was backed up by senior tri-captain Scott McArthur in third with a time of 15:21.22 in his first 5,000-meter race of the season due to injury.
Meanwhile, in the 1,500-meter run, senior Jeff Prescott earned the runner-up spot with a personal best time of 4:02.48.
"It was the last regular season meet, so it was the last chance to hit championship qualifiers, and I was able to hit the Div. III qualifier, so I was happy to extend my season in an individual event," Prescott said.
Prescott was backed by junior Adam Brosh, who crossed the line in fourth with a time of 4:04.71.
Freshman Evan Cover and sophomore Bobby McShane also posted impressive finishes in the 800-meter run, taking second and third with times of 1:54.41 and 1:54.64, respectively. The times put the duo on Tufts' all-time top-10 outdoors list, and rank them fourth and fifth in the NESCAC. Marvel is sitting in first, a promising sign for this weekend.
"The 800 was an absolute jaw-dropper, with Evan Cover and Bobby McShane both running 1:54 and just completely blowing all expectations away," Prescott said.
Freshman Marshall Pagano also earned a top-three finish on the track with a time of 10:01.56 in the steeplechase, good for third. Off the track, junior Ned DeLeo took third in the triple jump, leaping 40-8 3/4.
On the field side, senior tri-captain Adam Aronson earned third in the hammer throw with a heave of 170-9. Junior Curtis Yancy supported Aronson in the event, taking fourth with a distance of 167-6 while also earning fourth in discus with 147-2. Meanwhile, freshman Matthew Johnson placed fourth in the javelin with a throw of 168-6.
The Jumbos now hope to carry the momentum from this weekend forward as they head into championship season. On Saturday, they will suit up for their most important team meet, the NESCAC Championships at Bates, hoping to improve on their fourth-place performance last spring and get back on the podium by cracking the top three.
"We are in a position as a team to do really well at NESCACs," Marvel said. "We have guys who have been running really well in the past few weeks, and we're strong at pretty much every event, so I think we are definitely shooting for a top-two or three finish at the very least. I think we have the potential to win."
"The team has high caliber talent in every event - two or three guys in all events who can compete with the best in the NESCAC," Prescott added. "I'm hoping the team can turn some heads next weekend."
