While the majority of the Tufts community already knows what kind of athlete senior tri-captain Fred Jones is, the rest of the nation bore witness to his capabilities on Saturday.
Competing against the country's best Div. III athletes, Jones placed second in both the triple and long jumps at the NCAA National Championships held at Rose Hulman Institute of Technology in Indiana.
"It's fantastic," senior tri-captain Dave McCleary said of his teammate's performance. "It was his best placing in both events. He actually could have gotten first in the long jump, but his distance was topped on the last jump of the meet."
The sole representative of the men's track and field team, Jones faced extremely stiff competition but was able to earn a medal in both his events, setting two new school records in the process. Only accumulating points from Jones' performances, Tufts still finished tied for seventh with Wisconsin-Whitewater and Pomona-Pitzer, the best finish by a New England team in the meet.
"I thought Fred did very well at Nationals," senior tri-captain Nate Cleveland said in an e-mail to the Daily. "Two second-place performances on the national stage [were] very impressive, especially considering he was right in the hunt for the national title in both events, and each of the fields were so strong."
"I was very proud of how Fred handled himself in this entire week leading up to the NCAAs," head coach Ethan Barron said in an e-mail to the Daily. "He had a very chaotic week heading into the championships, but he took it all in stride and still performed well at the meet. That is truly what separates Fred from his competitors. When he steps on the runway, nothing else matters - there is no thought except for that jump in that moment."
With his two silver medals, Jones has now earned a total of nine All-American honors during both his indoor and outdoor careers. A seven-time participant at Nationals, Jones hopes his success can carry over into the final outdoor season of his illustrious Tufts career - and at this point, success is expected from the perennial championship contender.
"We weren't surprised at all," McCleary said of this weekend's finish. "Jones knows how to peak just at the right time. We could just tell during practice that he was mentally ready and very focused."
"He's one of the best athletes to ever put on a Tufts uniform, regardless," Barron said. "He is now a nine-time All American in addition to his National Championship. He's been nationally competitive since the first season of his freshmen year. He is one of the most consistent, dependable and responsible athletes that I've ever had the privilege to work with."
With Jones single-handedly putting the Jumbos in the nation's top 10, Cleveland and McCleary still believed his individual performance was a great reflection of the Tufts track and field program as a whole.
"Fred's performance does a lot to put our program on the map," Cleveland said. "It's great for potential recruits to look at the national results and see Tufts represented there, and it's also great for Fred's current teammates too."
"We're a very good program," McCleary said. "He represented the team well. That's what is special about Nationals - one man can do a lot. We were ranked in the top ten before the meet so his performance was a great reflection of our team."
With the indoor season now officially over, the team could finally reflect on a successful winter campaign.
"The season went well," McCleary said. "The freshmen ran really great. We were a little disappointed not to win the New England Div. III Championships, but overall I think we had a great season."
The Jumbos will now look ahead to the beginning of their outdoor season, and are exited about the prospects of emulating the indoor season's success on the outdoor stage. With the leadership and experience of McCleary, Jones and Cleveland, along with the exciting freshmen talents such as Ikenna Acholonu and Nick Welch, the Jumbos are primed to have a big 2007 season.
"Outdoor season is always so brief here in New England," Cleveland said. "I think this team still has a lot of goals to be met in the outdoor season, both on an individual level and on a team level, and I think everyone is excited to start training hard and getting after those goals."
