For the seniors of the men's track and field team, Saturday's third-place finish at the Jumbo Stampede was bittersweet. The team accumulated 90 points, finishing behind Williams (144) and Stonehill (96.5), but for the seniors, it also marked the final home meet of their indoor careers.
"When I look back at [Saturday's] meet, I was really reminiscing on my last four seasons here at Tufts," senior tri-captain Fred Jones said. "To see it come to an end was a little sad, because I've had my share of both successes and failures on this track."
"The indoor track is more home than the outdoor one, because we spend so much of our time practicing here," senior tri-captain Nate Cleveland added. "Our team did really well, with some great individual performances. It was a good way to go out."
The Jumbos finished third out of fourteen teams at the meet, which was stacked full of nationally-competitive teams. Claiming the overall win, however, was not necessarily the team's ultimate goal.
"We need to use the upcoming meets to make sure enough people qualify for the New England Championships," Cleveland said.
Cleveland's performance in the 600-meter dash was the highlight of the day for the Jumbos. With a time of 1:21.85, he narrowly broke the Tufts record in the event set by Ray Carre in 2004.
"I'm really excited for Nate," senior tri-captain David McCleary said. "That was one of those performances that really embodies what Tufts track is about, in how hard [Cleveland] works. It was a very gutsy, very inspiring race."
"Nate's race was the best race that I've seen in my four years at Tufts," Jones added.
Sophomore high jumper James Bradley also grabbed the attention of the entire meet after he cleared the 6'7" necessary to qualify for the NCAA Championships on March 9-10.
Tufts also took three of the top five positions in the 55-meter hurdles, as freshmen Jared Engelking, Ikenna Acholonu, and Trevor Donadt took the one, two, and five spots, respectively.
Engelking also ran in the 4x400-meter relay, where he and a combination of senior Dustin Virgilio, sophomore Skip Pagel, and freshman Andrew Longley took second with a time of 3:27.55.
Longley added a third-place finish in the 400-meter dash with a time of 51.39. Senior Josh Kennedy took fourth in the 5000-meter run while junior Joe Brown's 53-foot shot put earned him a third-place showing.
Perennial powerhouse Williams won the meet behind a sweep of the first four positions at the men's 800-meter run by senior Mike Davitian, junior Chris Beeler, senior Tyler Gray, and sophomore John Chaffee.
The Ephs also took first place in the 200-meter dash, the 400-meter dash, the 4x400-meter relay, the distance medley, the long jump, and the triple jump.
Taking second place was Div. II Stonehill, as Skyhawks senior Derek Hebert set a new school record in the 600-meter run with a time of 1:22.87, good enough for a second-place finish behind Cleveland.
On Feb. 16-17, Tufts will face-off against Williams again, this time in a meet with far greater significance. Held at Bates, the New England Div. III Championships is a test the team has looked forward to all season.
"We have to have a good meet from everyone [to beat Williams]," Jones said. "But it won't take a miracle. Everyone doesn't have to PR, but everyone does have to understand what they need to do. This is probably the best Tufts team we've ever had, so we have to go out there like we're the team to beat, not Williams.
"It's also not just about beating Williams," Jones continued. "It's about how many points we score. Last year, Williams beat us 15[3]-131. If we can go over 140 points, that would be incredible for a championship meet, and I'll be happy because we will have brought our best effort."
Before that, however, the squad will split in two for this weekend, as some will head to Friday's Valentine Invitational at Boston University, while others will travel to MIT when the Engineers host a meet on Saturday.
