Sports
March 24
For most Tufts teams, ending a season with just one All-American athlete on the roster would be an accomplishment. The men's indoor track and field team surpassed that goal — with four additional All-Americans in tow.
As the NCAA Div. III Championships brought Tufts' season to a close two weekends ago, the Jumbo squad ended the indoor campaign with five All-Americans from Nationals and a second-place team finish at the New England Div. III Championships.
"From my preseason impressions to postseason finishes, we definitely exceeded the expectations I had for the team," coach Ethan Barron said. "We definitely met our definition of success, which is putting together some of our best performances when we needed them at championship meets."
Sending six athletes to NCAAs two weekends ago, the Jumbo squad doubled its presence at the meet compared to last year's showing — an accomplishment in itself. Tufts then sweetened the deal, with five of six athletes returning as All-Americans, including junior Jesse Faller, who claimed two All-American titles.
Senior quad-captain James Bradley also brought home the distinction by placing sixth in the high jump. Bradley also tied the school record in the event this season.
"James Bradley as a captain couldn't be a better leader of this team," junior quad-captain Nick Welch said. "He had a fantastic season that bodes very well for where he can go outdoors."
The distance medley relay (DMR), composed of juniors Billy Hale, Scott Brinkman, Faller and senior Phil Rotella, took third at NCAAs and broke a 1976 Tufts record with a 10:02:33 provisional qualifying time at ECACs earlier this month.
The accomplishment came in the most all-inclusive track event, with the exception of the overall team score, according to Welch.
"[Their third place finish at Nationals] alone is remarkable, but what we all saw week after week was the DMR running faster and dropping time and incredible finishes, running people down like at ECACs," Welch said. "The fact that we managed to be successful in an event that has a sprinter, mid-distance runners and a 5k guy is a testament to the strength of our program."
The DMR was not the only relay team to find success this season. For the second time ever, every relay athlete ran a time to slot themselves into Tufts' top 10 performance list, Barron said.
But the Jumbos also found success as a team, tying MIT to claim second place behind Williams at Regionals. And while Tufts did not manage to repeat as champions, the team was still able to look past the setback and succeed further down the road.
"For me, the highlight [of the season] is always our New England Championships," senior quad-captain Colin Fitzgerald said. "Even though we only came in second, we still had a good showing as a team and supported each other well throughout the meet."
"This year we fell short of [the New England team title], but that's certainly not the end-all, be-all of the season — that's not the criteria that we judge our season by, but that's something that leaves us a little hungry for outdoor and certainly for next year," Welch added. "On the whole we are becoming a more well-rounded program, which will help toward the goal of nailing down that title."
This indoor season was also one that saw improvement across many event groups.
"Our distance crew of Nick Welch and Jesse Faller were both very consistent," Fitzgerald said. "The mid-distance crew of Billy Hale, [junior] Jason Hanrahan, Scott Brinkman, [senior] Marcelo Norsworthy and freshman Connor Rose stepped up a lot this year and were a huge part of our team.
"Our throwing squad played a much bigger role in the presence of the team and in our scores at meets than they ever had in my time here, so that's really a result of all of those athletes, [sophomore] Alex Gresham, [sophomore] David Dormon and [freshman] Matt Williams," Welch added. "Those three guys collectively essentially transformed our throwing squad ... Every event group saw a rise into a new level."
And after the loss of several key teammates last year, this year's freshmen stepped in to fill the void.
"It's easy to see the highlights from the top performers on the team in terms of time and distance and place," Welch said. "But on top of that, what doesn't get seen quite as much is the improvement that we saw from freshmen who stepped up and dropped many PRs from what they ran in high school, guys like [freshman] Scott McArthur, who seemed to PR something like five weeks in a row, which is really just awesome to see in his first season.
"What builds a strong program down the road is not just having those guys at the top, but having the younger athletes, the freshmen and sophomores, who are taking those small steps getting better so that come three, four years from now, they will be those top guys," Welch added. "I think we did a good job of that this winter."
With a strong indoor season under its belt, the team is now preparing to take its progress into the outdoor season. "Every year is a different year, every team is a different team," Barron said. "You don't necessarily replace a triple jumper with a triple jumper. The team as a whole learns to step up, and I think this team has done a great job of finding its identity and finding its own way.
"We did a great job this indoor season," Barron added. "We did achieve a lot of our goals, but we did it without emptying all rounds for indoor. Historically, we've sometimes peaked a little too hard for indoor and come into outdoor a little flat. I think this year we did well indoor without firing all cylinders yet. We definitely left gas in the tank for outdoor."
