The men's track and field team wrapped up a successful season with strong performances at the Open New England, ECAC and IC4A Championships. Now it looks forward to sending three seniors to the NCAA Championships.
On the weekend of May 14, the team was split between the ECAC and IC4A Championships, with each being the last chance for many Jumbos to qualify for Nationals or simply race for the last time in a Tufts uniform.
"With the ECAC championships and the IC4A Championships, there were two separate goals going into each meet," coach Ethan Barron said. "With the ECACs, we're looking for the athletes to really put some exclamation points on some great seasons and great careers, whereas with the IC4As, we're trying to have some athletes tune up for the nationals meet. I definitely think we've accomplished both of those goals."
Graduating seniors Jesse Faller, Jared Engelking and Trevor Donadt traveled to Princeton, N.J. to compete at IC4As from May 14-15. Donadt's performance led the way, as he finished 13th in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 53.07, once again improving his NCAA qualifying mark.
Engelking took 20th in the 110-meter hurdles, running a time of 14.78 seconds. Along with the decathlon, he has provisionally qualified for nationals in the 110 hurdles with his time of 14.61. Faller took 15th in the 5,000-meter run, finishing in a time of 14:30.79. The senior has already automatically qualified for NCAAs in both the 5K and the 10K, with marks of 14:17.10 and 30:13.97, respectively.
At the Open New England Championships, hosted by Northeastern from May 7 to 9, Engelking took home the title in the decathlon with a score of 6,587 points. Engelking dominated the competition in becoming the second straight Jumbo to win the All-New England decathlon, finishing comfortably in first by over 300 points and winning four of the 10 events — the 110-meter hurdles, the 400-meter dash, the discus and the pole vault. His score improves his previous provisional national qualifier and is just 13 points under the automatic mark.
Rising sophomore Michael Blair also scored in the event, taking eighth with a total of 5,178 points. The pair helped lead the Jumbos to 27 points and a 12th-place finish among Div. I, II and III schools, the best finish at the meet in three years. Among Div. III schools, Tufts was fourth, finishing behind MIT, Williams and a spot in back of Wheaton.
Donadt also contributed to the strong showing, taking fourth at the meet in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 53.60 seconds, a time that betters his NCAA provisional qualifier of 53.97.
On the distance side, rising sophomore Matt Rand took third in the 10,000-meter run with a time of 31:31.79, and graduating senior Ryan Lena finished eighth in the 3,000-meter steeplechase with a time of 9:36.93.
Tufts also ran a 4x800-meter relay team, taking fifth at the meet with a time of 7:44.47. The relay was led off by graduating senior quad-captain Billy Hale, followed by classmate Jason Hanrahan and rising sophomore Jeff Marvel and anchored by Faller. Being the first time the event was run outdoors, the time was a school record. Hale, Hanrahan and Marvel were also members of the relay that broke the 25-year-old record indoors, running 7:42.67 to smash the previous mark by six seconds.
"I was really pleased with Open New Englands," coach Ethan Barron said. "I thought the team recovered well from a down week the week before. To score almost twice as many points at Open New Englands as we did at Div. III New Englands says a lot. I was very pleased to see how the team stepped up and put some great performances together during finals week, which is always difficult."
The Jumbos also competed at the ECAC Championships, hosted by Springfield College from May 13 to 14. Rising sophomore Brad Nakanishi and graduating senior Bobby Bardin both scored at the meet with seventh-place finishes.
Nakanishi cleared a height of 14'11" in the pole vault, while Bardin scored 5,055 in the decathlon. After losing some of its top athletes to IC4As, the team scored 3.5 points for a 42nd-place finish.
Engelking, Donadt and Faller will hope to travel to Baldwin-Wallace College in Cleveland, Ohio to compete at the NCAA Championships from May 27 to 29. While Faller has a definite bid to nationals, Engelking and Donadt are both in strong positions to earn the chance to compete but will have to wait until the necessary point totals and times are released.
Engelking has traveled to nationals twice in his career, returning with All-American honors both times. He took third in the decathlon outdoors as a junior and took seventh in the pentathlon this indoor season.
"[The competition at nationals this year] is basically the same group that was there last year and basically the same group that was there at the pentathlon at nationals [indoors]," Engelking said. "I'm pretty familiar with the guys, and I know I can beat most of them. I'm looking forward to it. It should be very competitive and very fun."
"Jared's season this year has been far more consistent than it was last year, which is exactly what you like to see from a decathlete going into nationals," Barron added. "He's putting up a lot of the same marks and performances as last year and doing it with much greater ease, so we're looking forward to peaking over the next couple weeks and seeing how much he can improve for the national championships."
Engelking looks to do just that — improve — with hopes of bumping up his qualifying mark into scoring position.
Though Donadt has qualified provisionally in previous years, a trip to NCAAs this year would end his career with his first race on the national scene.
"Trevor's definitely coming on strong right when he needs to," Barron said. "He's [attained a personal record] in his last three meets, running the 400 hurdles. [At IC4As] he ran a great race, and it was obvious he still has a lot more in the tank, so I'm really looking forward to seeing a competitor like Trevor lined up against some of the best athletes in the country."
Faller has raced the 5K at nationals four times during his track career. Indoors, he finished in fourth place during his junior year and improved to third his senior year, while outdoors, he took 13th sophomore year and 11th his senior year. His time this outdoor season — a new school record — is 13 seconds faster than his best 5K indoors of 14:30.47, which is the new school record for the indoor season.
During Faller's career, he has only run the 10K once, but that race was good enough to automatically qualify for NCAAs. He will have his pick of events to compete in as he tries to add to his impressive collection of six All-American honors during his career — three indoors and three from cross country.
"The hardest thing for a national-caliber distance runner is to handle the balance of getting a great time that will qualify you for nationals and getting the performances that will help the team," Barron said. "And Jesse has done a great job this year of balancing those two responsibilities, and I'm incredibly excited to see what he can put together out in Ohio."
After a number of strong performances all season from Faller, Engelking and Donadt, the three are hoping to end their careers on a high note, showing the nation their strength.
This season put a cap on memorable careers for many of the team's seniors, who over the past four years have really made the Tufts' program what it is today. The Jumbos will have to recover from the loss of a strong class, led by graduating senior quad-captains Engelking, Hale, Andrew Longley and Nick Welch.
"We're taking a big hit in personality, talent and leadership with this graduating class of seniors," Barron said. "They're arguably one of the best classes to ever suit up for Tufts track and field, and I'd really just like to say thanks for all the work and heart that they've given the program over the last four years."
