In its final weekend before the NESCAC Championships, the men's track and field team was hoping for a tuneup at the Tufts Invitational at the Dussault track Saturday. And in what turned into a battle against a second straight week of poor weather, some Jumbos came out on top, hitting new personal records or winning their events amid the driving rain that hampered all the competitors.
"We did everything that we needed to do despite the conditions, and we still were able to have a couple of pretty strong performances," senior co−captain Jeff Prunier said. "It was a weekend to improve on as we head into championship season."
The Jumbos' 4x400 relay team hit a season−best time Saturday, with the foursome of freshmen Clint Porte, Dan Lange−Vagle and Graham Beutler and sophomore Lawrence Xia crossing the line in 3:26.81.
The throwers also had a string of strong performances. Freshman Atticus Swett and sophomore Curtis Yancy took the top two spots in discus throw, with distances of 128−0 and 121−9, respectively. Yancy and senior Alex Gresham also earned the top two spots in the hammer throw, with launches of 162−4 and 158−1, respectively, with Yancy's effort besting his PR.
On the track, the 1,500 meters also proved to be a good race for Tufts. Freshman Liam Cassidy led the Jumbos, earning second overall with a time of 4:08.11.
"The 1,500 wasn't optimal conditions, but everyone ran pretty close to their PRs," Prunier said. "If those guys are in good enough shape to run good times in bad weather, I think that bodes pretty well for us once we get some good weather going."
Meanwhile, seven Jumbos got to compete in some better conditions on Friday at the Larry Ellis Invitational, hosted by Princeton.
Sophomore Matt Rand led the trio of Jumbos in the 5,000−meter race. Rand ran a PR of 14:46.02, holding his own among the top runners of the region from Divs. I, II and III.
"There were thirty−one guys in the heat, so I was either boxed in and running slower than I wanted to or running out in lane two pretty much the entire race, so that cost me a little time, but other than that I felt good with it," Rand said. "I knew this was a very competitive field, so I wouldn't have to do any work, so I just wanted to tuck in behind the top group of guys and go with them as long as I could, and that's what I did. I fell of the pace in the last mile but I still finished fairly strong."
Graduate student Nick Welch (LA '10) ran 14:55.10 in the event, and sophomore Kyle Marks had 15:08.38.
"Nick's time is a great one for him. His PR is faster than that, but with him coming off of a year of injury, that was a great step in the right direction for him," Rand said. "Kyle ran his second fastest 5K outdoors, and his fastest time of the year, so that was good for him."
Earning a new personal best mark in the 1,500−meter run was sophomore Sam Haney, who crossed the line in 4:00.02.
"That was a five−second PR for him and that time will get him in the fast heat for NESCACs and Division IIIs, which was his main goal, and I think he'll try to go under 4:00 in one of those races, because he is certainly capable of it," Rand said.
In the 800−meter run, the pair of junior Connor Rose, who is also a senior staff writer for the Daily, and sophomore Jeff Marvel — who competed together in the event at indoor nationals earlier this year — finished in 1:55.43 and 1:55.52, respectively.
Freshman Ben Wallis also hit a new collegiate best, finishing the 3,000−meter steeplechase in 9:33.26, nearly 30 seconds faster than his first collegiate steeplechase just three weekends earlier. The time is also only nine seconds off the NCAA provisional qualifier of 9:24 and ranks Wallis as the fifth−fastest steeplechaser in the NESCAC.
A year of training now culminates in the meet the Jumbos have all been waiting for: the NESCAC Championships. After earning second place last spring, the Jumbos were left hungry for the title, but it won't be earned without a fight. In 2010, Tufts' score of 155.5 was just short of Williams' 167.5, which earned the Ephs their 20th team title in the 25−year history of the event.
"We should have a lot of confidence going into this tournament and Div. IIIs," Prunier said. "Even though we are a young team, we could have a really strong finish."
Dethroning the Ephs, said Prunier, is well within reach.
"We're down a few superstars, but we've got a lot more depth, and if some guys have breakout meets like they did at last year's NESCACs, we could be in a really good position and potentially win the whole meet," the co−captain continued. "While we were all pleased with our second−place finish last year, we weren't necessarily content, and we all know we have the potential to win."
