After having spent their entire careers finishing behind the Williams Ephs, the seniors of the men's track team are hoping to start a new trend at the Div. III New England Championships, which kick off this afternoon at Bates College.
"It would be huge [to beat Williams]," senior co-captain Dave McCleary said. "Everyone needs to perform close to or better than their PR [personal record]. We need to have good energy, and we need to stay focused."
"Williams is the defending champion," coach Ethan Barron said. "It is their meet to lose. It will be up to us to put enough pressure on them so we're right there when they stumble. This team has the energy, drive and focus to do exactly that this year."
Both Tufts and Williams qualified roughly 35 competitors for the New England Championships. Numbers-wise, the two teams are pretty evenly matched. But in order to win, the Jumbos will need strong performances from their three senior tri-captains, Fred Jones, Nate Cleveland and McCleary.
"I'd like to win [the 800 meters]," Cleveland said. "I think that's a pretty attainable goal if the race plays out the way I expect it to. The two guys seeded in front of me generally make their move at the end of the race, so I think if I can just say with them until then, I have a great shot."
Meanwhile, McCleary will focus on placing in the top eight in the 55-meter hurdles, in order to add big numbers to his team's point total.
"It's a competitive field," McCleary said. "But I expect to make the finals, and hopefully I'll get a PR."
While hurdles and jumps are important to the Jumbos, each event will be a separate battle of its own in determining how many points a team can rack up with lower finishes. After all, at the end of the meet the team with the most points, and not the most first-place finishes, is crowned the New England champion.
"Hurdles and jumps are a strength of ours, so if those go badly, it will be a big setback," Cleveland said. "Also, the battle for points in every event will be critical. We don't need to win all of them. If we can pick up the fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-place finishes in a lot of races, that will help us a lot in trying to put some points on the board."
"We have a very well-balanced program this year," Barron said. "We've worked to raise our sprints, jumps and throws programs up to the same caliber as our nationally competitive distance team. We've come very close to doing that this year. If we stay focused on our own training and making this group of guys as capable as possible, then we'll put ourselves in the best position to bring home a title."
If the Jumbos are able to bring home a title, it will be a crowing moment for the seniors who have worked for this weekend this season and throughout their careers.
"Ever since we got here, we've been trying to knock off Williams," Cleveland said. "This would be a perfect send-off for our seniors, and would be particularly sweet for me, because I live five minutes away from Bates. This will be like a home meet for me."
"This would be the perfect way for me to end the indoor track portion of my life," McCleary said.
In a championship meet, which perennially comes down to a two-team showdown, there can only be one winner.
The Tufts men have done all they can to ensure they finally come out on top.
