No individual victories? No problem. That was the unspoken reality of the Tufts men's track and field team at the Snowflake Classic this past Saturday. With the kind of depth that the Jumbos bring into competition every week, an impressive team result was made possible by a number of top finishes, even if they could never quite get that individual win.
When all was said and done, Tufts had accumulated 104 points, just six short of Northeastern University's winning total. Bridgewater State, the third-place team with 85.25 points, finished well behind the top two and never threatened either.
It was the second straight meet held in beautiful conditions, and the Jumbos used that weather once again to turn in strong results, particularly in the distance events.
Tufts swept spots two through five in the 10,000, their most successful event on the day. Junior Andrew Shapero led the stampede with a time of 32:40.85 to finish second, while sophomore Nick Guarnaccia, less than a second behind, settled for third. Freshman Mike Curley and sophomore Joe Poupard took fourth and fifth, respectively, with their times of 33:01.97 and 33:09.27.
In the 800, freshman Veer Bhalla secured fourth place, Tufts' highest finish of the event, with his time of 1:54.64. Freshman Alex Apostolides notched the other top-10 for the Jumbos in the 800 with his time of 1:58.32.
"I've increased my mileage and workouts have been going well, so I was confident I could hold on for a solid time," Bhalla said. "I just did my best to stick with those Harvard guys and the fast time came with that."
"1:54.64 is an open personal best for me by over a second, and I am pleased with my performance, but I know I can do better," he added. "I'm feeling more fit than I've ever felt in workouts and training runs, [and] I would like to get down to a 1:52 this season."
Finishing just outside of the top 10 in the 800 was junior Graham Beutler, Tufts' school record-holder in the 200-meter dash, and a standout 400 runner, whose time of 1:58.43 landed him in 11th place.
"Having run the 800, I can definitely say that the 400 will feel shorter," Beutler said. "It was my first time running the open 800 in college, [and] my only goal was to race my heat, which I was able to do, so I was happy."
The Jumbos also picked up two fifth-place finishes on the track, with both junior Ben Wallis and senior Vinnie Lee turning in impressive finishes in the 1,500 and the 200, respectively. Wallis clocked a time of 4:03.05, while Lee crossed the line in 23.11.
Tufts once again showed off its formidable cadre of representatives in the field events, only further solidifying the strength of the squad.
In the throwing events, senior tri-captain Curtis Yancy earned third place in the discus with his heave of 152 feet 1 inch as well as fifth place in the hammer throw with a toss of 168 feet 3 inches.
Sophomore Brian Williamson also earned a third-place finish with his throw of 50 feet 3 1/2 inches in the shot put, while junior Matt Johnson, making his season debut in the javelin, placed fourth with his throw of 175 feet 7 inches.
The jumps were also successful for the Jumbos, with senior Gbola Ajayi placing third in the long jump with a leap of 22 feet 5 1/4 inches and freshman Mitch Black, making his first appearance in the triple jump, leaping 42 feet 2 3/4 inches to finish fifth.
Ajayi, who anchors a jumps crew comprised predominantly of younger athletes, recorded one of his longest distances to date in his first time out since competing at Div. III Nationals during the indoor season.
"I guess I would attribute the improvement to finally taking some time off after Nationals and then coming back feeling rejuvenated," Ajayi said. "I had a good week in practice ... so I'm excited to see how the outdoor season unfolds."
The Jumbos will resume competition this Friday and Saturday, with a small contingent of runners making their way down to Princeton for the Sam Howell Invitational Friday evening and the bulk of the team suiting up for the George Davis Invitational at UMass Lowell the following day.
