In its first meet of the season, the men's indoor track and field team saw stiff competition but still managed to qualify two athletes for the NCAA Indoor Nationals.
The Northeastern University Husky Winter Carnival was a non-scoring meet, but it gave the Jumbos a chance to see where they stand individually.
"It was kind of a wakeup call," assistant coach Hob Brooks said. "I think we ran very solid; I don't think we ran great. Overall, it was a gauge of where we're at, and I think it'll provide good motivation and incentive to work over break and come back strong for our first meet in January."
Sophomore Fred Jones, one of the nation's best Div. III jumpers, qualified for Nationals in the triple jump event, placing second at the meet with a mark of 47-11.25 feet. Jones holds the Tufts all-time school record in this event.
Junior Matt Lacey qualified provisionally for Nationals with a time of 14:48.40 in the 5,000-meter run, finishing third in the event. He will likely advance to Nationals, providing a certain number of runners do not outscore him this season.
Even without All-Americans senior Nate Brigham and sophomore Josh Kennedy, who sat out the meet so they would have a chance to rest after the cross country season, the distance races were still the team's strongest events.
One of the most notable efforts was from freshman Chris Kantos, who ran in his first indoor meet. Kantos finished ninth in the 5,000 with a time of 15:07.50, a personal best.
"He was about 16 seconds off of the national qualifying mark," Brooks said. "So for a freshman, it was phenomenal. That was probably the best performance of the day."
Junior Matt Fortin (15:07.95) finished a fraction of a second behind Kantos in the 5,000 to place 10th, and senior Brian McNamara (15:37.76) placed 13th out of the 30 runners competing in the event.
All four athletes who ran the 5,000 competed at the cross country Nationals before Thanksgiving.
Out of the eight Jumbos that competed in the 3,000 run, senior Michael Don had the best time, placing eighth out of 54 runners in a time of 8:48.01.
Senior Aaron Kaye was the fastest Jumbo in the 1,000, finishing 11th out of 30 runners (2:36.99), one-hundredth of a second out of 10th place.
Sophomore Nate Cleveland placed eighth in the 800 (2:00.05), besting the other three Jumbos who also competed in that event.
Tufts was not as competitive in the shorter distance event. In the 55 dash, sophomores Mickey Ferri (6.99 seconds) and Nehemiah Green (7.08) placed 47th and 60th, respectively, out of 79 runners.
Eight Jumbos ran in the 200, and Ferri (23.56), who placed 27th out of 111 competitors, earned the best time for his team. Freshman Andrew Gordetsky (52.94) outran the other two Jumbos in the 400 to place 22nd out of 69 runners.
Junior Trevor Williams put forth the best effort for Tufts in a short distance event, placing ninth out of 33 runners in the 500, with a time of 1:07.32.
"I thought Trevor ran really well in the 500 meter," Brooks said. "It was a very strong race. He's a great competitor."
Sophomore Jamil Ludd finished 13th out of 48 runners in the 55 hurdles in 8.12 seconds, and senior Nathan Thompson and freshman Jeremy Arak finished 19th and 27th, respectively (8.22, 8.60).
Two Tufts teams competed in the 4x400 relay event. The team, comprised of Gordetsky, Cleveland, sophomore Dustin Virgilio and freshman Andy Hobey, placed 12th out of 35 teams, finishing in a time of 3:30.69. The second Tufts team finished 24th (3:37.67).
The Jumbos showed they needed some work in the field events, but problems in this area were anticipated.
"It's to be expected this early in the season," Brooks said. "We haven't really had enough time to get the technical work in to perform at the level we'd like to."
Freshman Jeremy Arak recorded the best mark for a Jumbo in the high jump, reaching 6 feet, which tied him for 12th place in the meet.
Freshmen Corey Lewis and Justin Henneman struggled in the pole vault, tying for last place after each leapt to a height of 12 feet. Junior Will Heitmann no-heighted and thus was not figured into the placing.
The Jumbos' pole vault success will likely increase next semester, when junior Seth LaPierre returns from a semester abroad. LaPierre consistently led the squad in the event last season.
In addition to finishing second in the triple jump, Jones placed third in the long jump (22-04.50 feet). Freshman Kenneth Kang also gave strong performances in the jumping events, placing 12th in the long jump (20-10.75) and eighth in the triple jump (42-03.05).
Ryan Byrne, who holds the school record in the shot, placed fourth out of 55 competitors with a 46 foot, 8 inch toss. Junior Jason Galvin placed eighth in the shot put (43-10) and 10th in the weight throw event (42-09), in which seven Jumbos competed.
"It was a great start," Brooks said. "To qualify two kids for Nationals on Dec. 4, that's a real testament to some of the strength that we have in this program."
