Senior quad-captain James Bradley jumped over the competition at this weekend's Tufts Invitational III, establishing himself as the best high jumper in New England in the process.
Bradley won the event with a height of 6' 9", a mark that tied Tufts' 16-year-old school record in the event.
"It was a fun atmosphere, and we have a great surface that I really like," Bradley said. "I think having a little more experience seeing those high heights is helpful."
Bradley's jump is currently the top mark made by any Div. III New England athlete this season and is 10 centimeters higher than the second-best performance. His mark is also ranked fourth nationally for Div. III athletes behind heights of 6'9 1/2'', 6'9 3/4'', and 6'10 3/4''.
"I'm just really excited [for New Englands]," Bradley said. "MIT has an awesome surface for jumping, and it's a really fun meet, so I'm just hoping to jump well ... I still have some goals. I want to go a little higher, and at Nationals, I just want to be consistent. A lot of times most people don't jump their PRs, and it's more just jumping consistently."
The Jumbos had three other victories during a strong showing in their final home meet this season. Senior Phil Rotella won the 200-meter dash with a time of 22.92 seconds, while junior Ikenna Acholonu gave Tufts a second first-place in the sprints with a time of 7.91 seconds in the 55-meter hurdles. Acholonu also finished fourth in the triple jump with 43' 9 3/4'', a mark that qualified him for the New England Div. III Championships.
Tufts' final victory came in the second-to-last event of the meet, the 4x400-meter relay. The team was made up of junior Billy Hale, senior quad-captain Colin Fitzgerald, Bradley and Rotella. Although all four had competed in earlier events, the team battled off Springfield to finish in 3:26.05, the third-fastest time posted this season by a New England school.
"It was almost a 4x400 put together by default," assistant coach Mark Carberry said. "Both Colin Fitzgerald and Phil Rotella felt pretty fresh from their races earlier in the day, and James Bradley has been doing some good 400 workouts, and Billy Hale also needed to get some speed work for the day. It was an [Eastern College Athletic Conference] qualifying time, so that is a good option in case we want to race that at ECACs."
Freshman Matt Williams took third in the shot put with a throw of 46' 1 1/2", a mark distinguishing him as the seventh-best performer in New England.
The Jumbos also performed strongly in the 800-meter run. Junior Scott Brinkman finished third in the event, running 1:55.87, while Hale and freshman Connor Rose finished seventh and eighth, respectively, with times of 1:57.01 and 1:57.16.
"The performances of Scott Brinkman, Connor Rose and Billy Hale, all in the 800, were all very impressive and far ahead of where any of them were last year at this time," Carberry said.
Brinkman's performance moved him to the spot of the seventh-best performer in New England in the 800. The times of Hale and Rose gave them the rankings of 10th and 11th, respectively.
Junior Ryan Lena, who overcame a recent injury, was the runner-up in the 3,000-meter run, finishing in 8:55.83, a time that qualified him for New Englands.
"He's coming off of about a month off from an injury over winter break, and being our third runner during cross country season, I came into the season looking for him to break nine minutes pretty early on," Carberry said. "But getting hurt is something that is never expected. For him to fight back and reach the fitness level that he's at already, I think really the sky's the limit for him."
For Lena, whose personal best is an 8:51 from his freshman year, the race was a step in the right direction.
"I was really happy [with my race]," Lena said. "It's taken me a little bit to get back into racing after being injured, and it was just really good to have a good race again. My ultimate goal is 8:45."
According to Bradley, the athletes who compete in the pentathlon also performed strongly in the meet.
Pentathlon athletes junior Jared Engelking and senior quad-captain Skip Pagel also looked strong for the Jumbos.
"Jared Engelking looked good in the shot put and Skip Pagel looked good in the hurdles and the shot put," Bradley said. "Those guys are farther down in the results, but they are rounding out well for the pentathlon at New Englands."
Although there was no team scoring at Saturday's meet, the showing featured over 10 competitive schools that help boost each other's times.
"[The competition at the meet] was surprisingly good," Carberry said. "Whenever you have a meet where Keene State brings all of their top guys and UMass Lowell brings a bunch of their top guys, you're definitely going to expect some fast times to be run. With the addition of Sacred Heart and Ithaca, you never know what you're going to get. It was definitely a good quality meet."
Saturday's results were especially promising considering their proximity to championship season, which will commence in two weeks with Div. III New England Championships.
"Being two weeks out of championship season and to have guys continuing to PR is something that is kind of rare, and it shows that they're still developing, and frankly, it can really only get better from here on in," Carberry said. "If they can develop over the next two weeks even more, our chances to repeat as Div. III champions are definitely still alive."
