Catherine Beck, women's track and field
There's just no distance that Beck can't conquer. At the All-New England Championships this weekend, sophomore Catherine Beck took second in the mile, setting a new school record of 4:55.39 and narrowly missing the automatic qualifying mark for the NCAA Championships.
In a competitive race with Providence freshman Katie DiCamillo, Beck almost took the All-New England title and her time misses the automatic qualifying mark for nationals by .39 seconds. She is now the new Tufts record-holder, beating Kathy Whitcomb's ('78) record of 4:56.00.
Beck, who led the cross-country team in every race this season and qualifed for the indoor track NCAA Championships last season in the 5,000 meters, displayed surprising mid-distance prowess by running 5:00.61 at the second Tufts Invite in mid-January. She followed up on that performance last week by taking first (5:00.66) at the Div. III New England Regional Championships and second in the 3,000 (9:54.57).
The Brookline, New Hampshire native will have her choice of events in which to compete at Nationals, as she has provisionally qualified in both the 5,000 meters and the mile.
Jake Weitzen, men's basketball
Weitzen played some of his best basketball of the season at exactly the right time. Shooting 10 for 14 in the team's nailbiting 94-86 overtime loss to the Lord Jeffs in the NESCAC Championship game, he scored 25 points and pulled down seven rebounds.
The sophomore forward also tacked on a double-double in Saturday's 88-75 overtime win over Trinity in the NESCAC semifinals that got the Jumbos to the finals, scoring 21 points and pulling down 10 rebounds.
Weitzen combined with senior Dan Martin and sophomore Jeremy Black to shoot 65.9% from the field against Amherst. The New York City native drilled a big right-handed hook shot with 3:03 left in the fourth quarter to tie the game at 74 and added two free throws with 1:37 left to give the team the lead, 76-74.
Against the Bantams, Weitzen dropped seven points and grabbed three rebounds in overtime to help the Jumbos take down Trinity with a 18-5 run in the extra frame. The team will now await the news of its NCAA tournament opponent, having received an at-large bid for the tournament.
