Cleveland Breaks 600m Record, Bradley Qualifies For NCAA's

(2/3/2007) See more Photos     Full Results

The 2007 Tufts Stampede marked the final home competition of the season for this year's squad. Their performances lived up to the meet's name as the team unleashed a waterfall of personal bests, school records, and national qualifying marks. The Jumbos welcomed some of the regions top athletes to the Gantcher Center in the form of UMass Lowell, Williams, Trinity, Amherst, Stonehill, Eastern Connecticut, and Springfield.

The day began with the unseeded section of the 5000m where senior Justin Chung knocked 24 seconds off his indoor PR and qualified for the New England championships. Classmate Tim Churella followed up with his own 13 second PR in the 3000m. Churella continued his outstanding season, thus far setting personal records in every meet this year.

Following the 3k, the Jumbos saw a number of athletes run PRs on the straightaway. Decathlete Skip Pagel trimmed a little off his 55H time with his 8.56 in the hurdle trials, and the freshmen trio of Jared Engelking, Ikenna Acholonu, and Trevor Donadt all advanced to the finals, where Engelking and Acholonu went 1-2 for the second week in a row and Donadt posted a PR of 8.16. In the 55m dash, Captain Fred Jones, Colin Fitzgerald, and Ashish Datta all posted PRs in their heats, and though they missed advancing out of the trials, senior Mickey Ferri ran a fine 6.72 for seventh in the finals.

Even with the strong start to the meet, it wasn't until midday that the Jumbos truly hit their stride. In the seeded section of the 600m dash, captain Nate Cleveland jumped out to a quick lead and never let it go. Cleveland had his eyes set on becoming the only Tufts athlete in school history to crack the 1:22 barrier , and he did exactly that. Nate's wire-to-wire race and PR of 1:21.85 was good enough to knock off the three year old school record of 1:22.00 formerly held by 2005 graduate Ray Carre.

The electricity created by Cleveland's race was palpable and went to good use, as sophomore James Bradley immediately put it to work in the high jump. Coming off a strong showing last week, Bradley added another 1.5 inches to his PR. His jump of 2.01m (6-7) provisionally qualifies him for the NCAA championships in March. Bradley and teammate Jeremy Arak are currently ranked #1 and #2 in the region.

After Bradley's HJ qualifier, the Jumbo throwers wrapped up the field events with a pair of PRs. Senior David Igbalajobi added another foot onto his 35lb. weight throw mark improving to a season best of 45-1. Junior Joe Brown also tacked on an extra 6" this weekend breaking the 53 foot barrier for the first time.

Next weekend the Jumbos will have a pair of competitions. The squad will split their efforts between the Valentines Invitational at BU on Friday night and the MIT Invitational on Saturday. This will be the final weekend for many Jumbos to shoot for their Division III New England qualifying marks. This past weekend, Williams College displayed why they are the reigning New England Champions with several strong performances. It should be an exciting start to the championship season in two weeks when the best athletes in New England convene at Bates College fieldhouse for the regional championships.



See more Photos   Full Results