Jones' Two NCAA Qualifiers Lead Jumbos at MIT

(2/10/2007) Full Results

With the bulk of the Tufts runners competing at last night's Valentines Invitational, the Jumbos took a handful of runners and a slew of field event athletes to MIT for their Coed Invitational. A much larger meet from years past, MIT would host a number of teams and approximately 500 athletes in this year's competition.

This Saturday would mark the last chance meet for many athletes as they fought for qualifying marks to lengthen their seasons at least one more week. Junior Kenneth Kang and freshman Isaiah Paramore would be two of the Jumbos who successfully added another meet to their season. Kang, a LJ/TJ specialist, picked up the vault last spring and quickly adjusted to the new event. This weekend he added another 6" to his PR and hit the 12-9 qualifier for the NE championships. Across the infield, teammate Isaiah Paramore also added some height to his jump as he cleared the 6-1 qualification for next weekends meet. Paramore is the 5th Jumbo to hit the qualifying standard in the high jump this year.

Captain David McCleary would also be amongst those Jumbos looking to lengthen his season. Coming off a bad bout with mono earlier this season, McCleary has been slowly coming back into form as the season has progressed. Flirting with the NE qualification for the past few weeks, McCleary finally got under the mark and become the 5th Jumbo hurdler to hit the standard.

The Jumbos would continue their barrage of qualification as the meet moved to the long and triple jump runways. Captain Fred Jones would take home the LJ with a jump of 23-8.25. Jones' jump is currently ranked #1 in the country thus far this season. He would also better his national qualifying triple jump to 47-2.5. Teammate Nate Scott, putting a recent football injury behind him, would also qualify in the triple jump with his mark of 42-11.5.

Immediately following the conclusion of the MIT Invitational a core of Jumbos would return to the Gantcher Center for the Tufts University Last Chance Pentathlon. With a few additional pentathletes yet to qualify for next weekend's championships, both Springfield College and Tufts University would take part in this year's competition. Joined by the Royal We Track Club which boasts some of Tufts recent graduates and coaches, the meet was a huge success. Nate Scott and David McCleary would come away with NE qualifying performances for the Jumbos, while recent alumni Greg Devine and head coach Ethan Barron would also hit the mark.



Full Results