Jumbos Explode Out of the Blocks at Tufts Invitational
(1/13/2007) Full ResultsThe Jumbos resumed practicing this past week after a restful and well deserved vacation. The period of double sessions left the legs of many feeling achy and tired. In spite of all that, the Tufts men came through with strong performances across the board. From the first event to the last, the Jumbos were able to maintain a high level of focus and intensity.
The day opened up with field event competition. Joseph Brown continued his strong start to the season with a 3rd place finish in the 35 pound Weight Throw. Teammate David Igbalajobi improved his personal best by nearly a meter, moving up to 41'10". On the other side of the infield, the High Jumpers produced strong results as well. Freshman Jared Engelking PRed again, clearing 6'01" for fourth place. Jeremy Arak and Ted McMahan both cleared the winning height of 6'03". Ted was the victor because he was successful on his first attempt.
The first event on the track saw Nick Welch in the fast section of the 3000m. The freshman ran an excellent race to place second with a fantastic time of 8:42.98. Dave Sorensen and Chad Uy also ran under 9 minutes. Senior Tim Churella chipped off over 10 seconds from his previous best, finishing in 9:38.67.
The Tufts sprinters fed off the energy sparked by their teammates in the 3k. Marc Soskin (6.83), Andrew Longley (6.71) and Mickey Ferri (6.69) each won their preliminary heat. Mickey's time earns him a spot on the Tufts Top-10 list. Senior Fred Jones also qualified for the final. Sixteen athletes moved on to the two heat final in the dash and hurdles for this competition. With four sprinters in the fast section final, Tufts saw four sprinters under the 6.8 barrier. Soskin and Jones ran personal bests of 6.78 and 6.76 respectively.
The hurdlers had an equally impressive showing headed by the freshman. Trevor Donadt lowered his college best in the high hurdles running 8.29. Jared Engelking returned from the High Jump to post an 8.03 clocking. Ikenna Acholonu also PRed with an excellent run of 7.90.
The mid-distance runners also did not disappoint. Captain Nate Cleveland and freshman Matt Tirrell ran smoothly in their 600m races, finishing in 1:23.33 and 1:24.70 respectively. In the 800, freshmen Jason Hanrahan and Alex Landy showed improvment with solid times of 2:02.92 and 2:03.26.
Later in the day, the sprinters returned to do some damage in the 200. Colin Fitzgerald ran an indoor personal best, timing 23.26. Andrew Longley ran an excellent race on the flat track, placing fourth in 22.86. Soon after, Mickey Ferri also dipped under the 23 second mark, completing the event in 22.99.
Immediately following the 200m, Ryan Lena ran his first 5K on the track. The freshman bested his 2-mile PR en route to a second place finish. Ryan's time is just two seconds over the Division III New England qualifying standard.
On the runway, the Jumbos made up 8 of the 19 finalists of the day. Captain Fred Jones was a double winner in the horizontal jumps with leaps of 6.96m and 14.06m (NCAA Provisional). Joining Jones in the long jump, pentathlete Derek Engelking missed the 21 foot mark by a centimeter with his jump of 6.39m. In the triple jump, two more jumpers posted cleared the 13 meter mark. Acholonu's 43'05" (13.23m) jump was good enough for 3rd place, while junior Jacob Fromer with his jump of 42'08" (13.00m) placed 5th.
A foursome of Jumbo pentathletes took 2nd in the 4x400m as the Engelking brothers, Skip Pagel, and Trevor Donadt ran 3:35.27. A trio of freshman was joined by anchor leg Nate Cleveland to win the 4x800m relay with a time of 8:10.54.
The Jumbos look to have another stellar competition next Saturday as they host another invitational on January 20th.
Full Results