The men's track and field team saw a slew of personal bests on Saturday at the George Davis Invitational, hosted by UMass Lowell. Warm weather and optimal conditions aided the athletes in cutting down their times and adding distance to their jumps and throws.
Though the meet was not scored, the Jumbos brought home two individual victories. On the track, freshman Liam Cassidy finished first in the 5,000-meter race, earning a personal record (PR) with his time of 15:11.72. Junior Scott McArthur finished just five seconds behind, in 15:16.77, to earn fourth in the 29-man race. All five Jumbos in the race qualified for NESCACs and four qualified for the Div. III New England Championships, showing the depth of the long-distance squad this season.
"It was the most solid 5K that I've seen our team run throughout my time at Tufts," McArthur said. "All of our runners averaged under 5:00 [mile] pace which is a very strong place to be this early in the season. … Everybody ran controlled for the first two miles and finished with a really strong third mile. Liam had the strongest race; he was able to pick off runners one by one in the last mile to win.
Sophomore Brad Nakanishi added a victory in the pole vault, clearing a height of 14-5 1/4. Nakanishi was the only athlete to clear 14 feet on Saturday. Just behind Nakanishi was senior co-captain Sam Read, who cleared 13-11 1/4, good for second place.
"My performance went pretty well, and it was nice to have the warm weather to compete in. I was just trying to get some qualifiers in early in the regular season," said Nakanishi, who did just that — his jump qualified him for every tournament up to Eastern College Athletic Conference Championships (ECACs).
Perhaps the biggest performances came from the jumpers. Sophomore Gbola Ajayi took second in the long jump with a new PR of 22-9 3/4, just four inches short of the NCAA provisionally qualifying mark.
"My long jump was very exciting," said Ajayi, who is aiming for the top three at NESCACs and the New England Championships in the event, and, later in the season, hopes to qualify and compete at NCAAs. "I proved to myself that I could qualify for Nationals in long jump. ... It was a huge PR, so it was unexpected. I am excited about it, and I am looking forward to jumping again."
Ajayi also earned a fourth-place finish in the triple jump, launching himself a distance of 44-9 3/4 — an outdoor personal best.
Meanwhile, junior Alex Orchowski — high jumping in only in his second meet — earned a new PR when he cleared a height of 6-4 3/4, taking third in the meet. Sophomore Michael Blair cleared the same height, but earned seventh, since it came on a later attempt over the bar.
Orchowski and senior Sam Mason, both players on the basketball team, joined the team for the spring season.
Earlier in the day, Ajayi added another strong performance on the track, leading off Tufts' first 4x100-meter relay of the season. Ajayi was accompanied by sophomore Vinnie Lee and freshmen Dan Lange-Vagle and Jordan Dietrich, a team that finished in a combined time of 43.97 to take third. The foursome was just a second off of the team, which included Ajayi and Lee, that earned the Jumbos first in the event at the NESCAC Championships last spring in 42.95.
"Our first 4x100 qualified for ECACs, but we thought we'd be faster than what we ran," Ajayi said. "We're switching it up this weekend. ...We're switching the order to take advantage of personal strengths, so hopefully that will go better."
On the field side, senior Alex Gresham added a strong hammer throw this weekend, earning a third-place finish among 27 athletes with a distance of 166-2 (50.64 m). The throw was Gresham's first over 50 meters for the season and approaches the NCAA provisional qualifying mark of 173-11.
"Gresham had a really good day," Nakanishi said. "He's right around where he was last year at NESCACs, and he's just been steadily rolling each week, so it will be exciting to see what he does this season."
With two regular-season meets left before NESCACs, the Jumbos are focused on hitting qualifying marks and building their strength and speed for the championship season.
"The next two weeks are to hit qualifying, and then for our big guys to get them some rest before NESCACs," said Ajayi, who does not plan to jump again until the NESCAC Championships. "For our borderline guys, it's about them getting some race experience, because we're looking to make some noise at NESCACs and finish in the top three as a team."
The team heads across town to the MIT Invitational next Saturday.
"MIT should be a faster track than Lowell, and it's more protected from the wind, so it'll be a good track to see some great stuff on," Nakanishi said.
