The 127th Boston Marathon on April 17 featured a field of 30,000 runners ranging from those running their first marathon to Eliud Kipchoge, the world record holder for the fastest marathon. One thing all of these runners have in common is their passion and love for the sport and their sheer determination to complete one of the toughest things that a human can do.
If you passed by Tufts’ Ounjian Field this past Saturday just before 4 p.m., you would have seen each player of the 15-member club cricket team with their arms around each other’s shoulders. They were taking part in a pregame huddle led by senior captain Pranav Jain, senior vice-captain Archit Jain and senior team president Saumya Mehta in advance of their match against Harvard. A team huddle before any sports game is not uncommon.
A small, but strong contingent of the Tufts men’s track and field team placed 31st in the nation on Friday and Saturday at the NCAA Division III Indoor Track National Championships. The five athletes that competed at the meet were junior Alex Lemiuex, sophomore Harry Rienecker-Found, senior Ben Stein, junior Drew Svoboda and sophomore Luke Botsford.
The men’s track and field team competed at Middlebury at the indoor New England Div. III Championships on Friday and Saturday, and placed third overall out of 23 teams.
The men’s and women's track and field teams competed at Boston University’s David Hemery Valentine Invitational, named after the legendary track and field athlete David Hemery, on Friday and Saturday. This was no ordinary collegiate meet: it featured the top high school, college and professional athletes around the country, many of whom broke national records.
On Sunday, men’s track and field sent squads to compete at both the Boston University-hosted John Thomas Terrier Classic and the Tufts-hosted Branwen Smith-King Invitational. Two days prior, on Friday, the women competed on a separate day of the John Thomas Terrier Classic at BU.
Despite the challenges that Tufts sport teams have faced throughout the last two years, trying to compete and practice during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Jumbos have shown resilience and patience. Not only have our athletes survived, but they have thrived. Many spring sports, including softball and lacrosse, achieved tremendous success at the NESCAC and national levels last year. Now, with relatively fewer COVID-19 restrictions, here are what spring sports at Tufts will be up to this season.
On Nov. 20, the men’s and women’s cross country teams traveled to E.P. “Tom” Sawyer State Park in Louisville, Ky. to compete in the NCAA Championship race. The men and women competed in the 8K and 6K races respectively.
Tufts cross country spooked its competitors at the NESCAC Championship at Wickham Park in Manchester, Conn., with the women's team finishing second and the men's team finishing fourth on Halloween weekend. The women, who competed in a 6K race, maintained their position from their last NESCAC Championship in 2019, while the men, who ran an 8K race, massively improved from their 2019 eighth-place finish.
This past Saturday, Tufts cross country competed at the NEICAAA championships at Franklin Park in Boston, Mass. The women finished 10th overall in the varsity 5K race and fifth in the sub-varsity 5K race, while the men, who did not have their top eight runners race at the meet, finished fourth overall in the sub-varsity 8K race.
