Last year, Tufts men’s track and field had a great season with some of the best athletes the program has ever seen. The team sent seven of its members to the 2016 NCAA Indoor Men’s Track and Field Championships and five of its members to the 2016 NCAA Outdoor Men’s Track and Field Championships, both the largest contingents of Jumbos at the tournaments since 2013. The team is looking to have an even better season this year.
Last season, the Jumbos finished 35th in the Indoor New England Intercollegiate Amateur Athletic Association (NEICAAA) Championships and 6th in the Outdoor NEICAAA Championships, even though the tournaments included Division I and II runners. The team finished 2nd in the NESCAC Championship, losing only to Williams. Tufts also did well in the National Championships, placing 21st out of 66 teams in the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships and tying for 15th out of 78 teams in the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships.
According to senior co-captain hurdler/jumper Tom Wang, the team is ready to hit the ground running and perform at a high level from the start of the season.
“We’re coming off one of our best preseasons ever,” Wang said. “In my four years here, I’ve never seen a group this committed to training in the off-season before, and I think it is really going to pay off. We just had an inter-squad scrimmage this weekend, and the results speak for themselves. Guys were competing out of their minds and running at a level we haven’t seen before this early in the track season. We have scary potential and should put together a very exciting campaign.”
The team graduated some key seniors last year, notably tri-captain mid-distance runner Mitchell Black (LA '16). Black won the Indoor and Outdoor NCAA 800-meter Championships two years in a row, was named the College Sports Information Directors of America Men’s Track and Field/Cross-Country Academic All-American of the year for 2016 and received the Walter Byers Postgraduate Scholarship, a scholarship worth $24,000, thus finishing his career as arguably one of the most accomplished athletes Tufts has ever fielded. Tufts also graduated runners Veer Bhalla (A '16), Alex Apostolides (A '16), tri-captain Alex Kasemir (A' 16) and throwers Michael Paloian (A '16) and tri-captain Atticus Swett (A '16), all of whom played vital roles for the squad and represented the team well at numerous other tournaments.
This year's senior class is strong and experienced, and it should be able to perform well. Along with Wang and senior co-captain Nick Usoff, the team has a squad full of other strong senior runners ready to replace the class of 2016. Last year, then-junior distance runner Luke O’Connor finished fourth in the 3,000-meter steeplechase in the Div. III Outdoor Track and Field Championships and received the first All-American honor of his career. Then-junior distance runner Tim Nichols picked up two All-American honors with a plethora of strong performances, notably his sixth-place finish in the 10,000-meter at the Div. III Outdoor Championships.
Usoff thinks that the loss of the seniors will have little effect on the current team’s ability to perform.
“Our [first-year] class is incredibly strong and ready to compete at a high level right away,” Usoff said. “Also, returning guys on the team are looking better than they ever have before. I’m very confident that this more than makes up for graduating some of the best seniors we have ever had in our program, which speaks a lot to the talent we have now. I think a lot of other schools in the NESCAC will be caught off guard when they realize just how deep our team is, even without the class of 2016.”
Wang also has high hopes for the first-years.
“All of our [first-years] have shown incredible promise so far,” Wang said. “I'm especially excited about two of our [first-years] who are also on the football team: Robert Jones and Kevin Quisumbing. Both have had impressive high school track careers and bring a lot to the table this year. [Jones] and [Quisumbing] have a great shot at knocking down some [first-year] records and scoring serious points at championship meets.”
The Jumbos’ first meet of the year is the Tufts Invitational on Jan. 14.
Tufts counting on returner improvement, new first-years to replace talented graduated class
