Tufts a Strong Second at Bowdoin

(2/2/2008) Full Results

Brunswick, Maine, was the site of competition this weekend for the Jumbos as they visited Bowdoin for a 5-way battle against MIT, Colby, Springfield, and the host Polar Bears. For a meet with only a few teams, the competition was excellent, and many Jumbos returned home with PRs and big improvements as the team draws nearer on the New England championships.

MIT took the team victory at the meet with 240 points, a result of the overall strength of their squad and the depth they put into each event. Tufts came through in a strong second to the Engineers in 107 points. Springfield, Bowdoin, and Colby rounded out the team scoring with 86, 70, and 51 points, respectively.

The meet featured a whole heap of PRs for the TUTF squad. Sophomore Marc Soskin's PR of 6.74 in the 55m dash gave him third place overall, as he led two other Jumbos, sophomore Andrew Longley and junior Phil Rotella, to top-8 finishes. Soskin's was not the only dash PR of the day, as senior captain and high jumper Jeremy Arak too dropped his best mark to 7.07. In the 200m, junior Colin Fitzgerald led the Jumbos with a 7th place finish, with freshman Jeremy Peterson close behind him in 9th with a PR of 23.93. Fitzgerald returned to capture another 7th place finish in the 400m with a time of 53.67.

The 55m hurdles, as is often the case, was another strong event for the team, as three jumbos made the final to claim spots in the top 8. Of particular note was senior captain Nate Scott's third place PR of 8.17, bringing him down from the 8.20s into a new decade of tenths and boding well for his potential in the pentathlon later in the season. Sophomore Trevor Donadt and Longley joined him in the final to grab second and eighth, respectively, and sophomore Adrian Dahlin, who has been demonstrating his versatility this year, made a solid debut in the event.

Freshman Jerzy Eisenberg-Guyot continued to demonstrate the payoffs of his hard as he was the top Jumbo in both the mile and the 1000m. Just seconds off his PR in 4:37.27, Eisenberg-Guyot came back strong in the K with a PR of 2:41.40. In addition, sophomores Ryan Lena and Josh Gordon both clocked in well at 4:39 in the mile. Scoring big points in the 800, sophomore Billy Hale came back hard from a pedestrian first lap to run 1:58.66 and grab second place in the event. Likewise in the 600, Alex Landy, also a member of the class of 2010, took third place in a PR and New England championship-qualifying time of 1:25.16.

With some of the Tufts distance squad taking the weekend off, it was up to some of the young guns of 2011 of the team to step up and drop big performances in the 3000m--and they did just that. Freshmen Chris Brunnquell and Sam Hutchinson both PRed in 9:19.68 and 9:37.15, respectively, and are looking stronger and stronger each week.

Moving off the track, the Jumbos had many impressive performances in the field events. Tufts took eight of the top nine spots in the high jump, led by Arak's mark of 1.92m and Scott's 1.87m. Both took several good attempts at the next height and nearly cleared. Freshman Sam Read showed he is right where he needs to be as he was just 1cm off his PR of 4.05m in the pole vault, taking a solid third place against a field of older, more experienced vaulters. Senior captain Dan Marcy was just 6cm shy of the NCAA provisional mark in the triple jump, his 13.94m earning him second place on the day. Building on the momentum of his performance at the Tufts Alumni Invite, senior Jake Fromer PRed again in the long jump, extending his best to 20-05.75.

With nearly the entire team coming off a week of rest, a PR, or a step in the right direction, things are coming together at just the right time. Next week, the Jumbos return to Boston University for the Valentine's Invitiational, another chance to square off against D1 and D2 athletes, go after PRs and qualifyers, and get valuable race experience.


Full Results