With the squad split on Saturday between the Valentine Invitational at Boston University and the Tufts Last Chance Invitational in the Gantcher Center, the men's track and field team notched several impressive marks in its final weekend before championship season.
As the finale to the regular season, the day served as a chance to hit qualifying standards and build momentum toward the Div. III New England Championships next weekend.
The action kicked off for the men at BU with the Distance Medley Relay (DMR) on Saturday morning. Senior tri-captain Connor Rose led off with the 1,200-meter leg, passing off to sophomore Graham Beutler in the 400, junior Jeff Marvel in the 800 and junior Sam Haney in the 1,600. The foursome combined for a time of 10:00.47 to finish seventh among 20 teams ranging across all divisions. The time currently ranks seventh in Div. III this season.
"I liked how the first three legs of the DMR came together," Beutler said. "Haney's mile was tough, but that's always a lot of pressure. Connor definitely ran awesome, and so did Jeff."
The foursome's time currently ranks seventh in Div. III, though the fastest marks will likely come during championship season.
The members of the DMR returned to the track later that day to post solid individual marks. Haney doubled back for the 1,000-meter run to clock a time of 2:32.93, good for 38th among 75 competitors, while Marvel earned 26th in the 500-meter dash in 1:07.21, just two places and a tenth of a second behind freshman Aaron Roseman.
Beutler hit the track again for the 200-meter dash with a personal record time of 22:34, just six-tenths of a second off of the school record, to earn a 26th place finish among 167 runners.
Junior Vinnie Lee posted another solid finish in the sprints, running a 49.84 in the 400-meter dash.
"It's good to know that [Lee] can go under 50 in the open 400, because that bodes well for our 4x400 which is another possible chance to go to Nationals for some of us," Beutler said. "It was good to see Vinnie in that kind of form at this point in the year and to see him finally fast in the 400. Last year he excelled in the shorter sprints, but this year he's a little more versatile."
Tufts also posted several strong marks in the distance events. Junior Matt Rand earned the highest individual finish for the Jumbos, clocking a time of 14:34.92 in the 5,000-meter run that places him in the national top 10.
A slew of Tufts athletes also clocked impressive times in the mile on Saturday. Sophomore Ben Wallis led the effort of the 12 Jumbo milers, crossing the line in 4:17.82 to place 71st among 253 athletes. Classmates Bobby McShane and Brian McLaughlin were the next Jumbos to finish with times of 4:19.38 and 4:20.25, respectively.
"I PR'ed [personal record] by two seconds, but I think I could do better," McLaughlin said. "When the gun went off, I didn't really sprint as much as I should have in the first 10 meters or so, so I got boxed out right from the start."
The Jumbos fed off of the high energy and strong competition that BU offers, but they are still determined to improve next weekend.
"There were a lot of PR's ... but everyone knows that they can run faster," McLaughlin said. "It was a good confidence booster to hit PRs, but it still lit the fire in us to do better next week."
Meanwhile, the Gantcher Center was the site of the team's final home meet of the season on Saturday. For some, the meet was the last chance to hit final qualifying marks for the championship season, while others looked to wrap up their indoor seasons with a bang.
Junior Curtis Yancy earned the lone victory for the Jumbos at the non-scoring meet with a toss of 52-2 1/2 in the weight throw.
The squad also earned two runner-up finishes. Sophomore Ned Deleo took second in the long jump with a leap of 17-10 1/4, while junior Thiago Lima was second in the 600-meter dash in 1:30.99. Junior Kayin Cherry placed third in the 60-meter dash, finishing in 7.47.
On the distance side, freshman Marshall Pagano snuck under the Div. III qualifier mark of 8:55 in the 3,000-meter run with a time of 8:54.53, good for fourth at the meet.
The Jumbos will look to carry their momentum to Springfield College on Friday and Saturday for the regional championships.
"We're definitely going to look to win a bunch of the events, both field and track, and put ourselves in the position to be up there in the rankings for the final team scores," Beutler said.
"MIT is definitely a Goliath — they're a huge team that is very deep and solid, so it's going to be tough to beat them. But I think we can look to go after a bunch of teams — even Williams I think we can compete with this year. We're definitely going to look to compete to win and we're definitely pumped up," he added.
