Tufts Wins First New England Title Since 1991!
(2/23/2008) See more Photos Full ResultsThe
Tufts Men's Track Team defeated Williams and MIT to win its first Division III New England Championship since 1991. The two-day event never saw a dull moment, with every Jumbo--competing or not--pouring effort and energy onto the track and leaving nothing behind. This victory was earned; its only inevitability was the passion that produced it. The New England title had belonged to either MIT or Williams since the last time the Jumbos brought home the crown in 1991. With this year's title the three schools have shared the title for the past 19 years. This was the closest battle between the three schools in recent memory and the first time that there have ever been three 100 point teams at the New England Championships.
With the tone set by the pentathletes on Friday, the high hurdlers kept the momentum rolling strong with a blazing start. Sophomores Ikenna Acholonu and Trevor Donadt as well as senior captain Nathan Scott sprinted their way into the 55m hurdle final. Acholonu's 7.86 in the final placed him 3rd, with pentathletes
Donadt and Scott following closely behind in 6th and 8th, respectively. In the circle senior Joe Brown started off the day for Tufts on a similar note, throwing 15.09m (49' 6.25") for 8th place.Just like the hurdles, the 200m dash saw three Jumbos forcing their way into the finals, with sophomore Andrew Longley and juniors Philip Rotella and Colin Fitzgerald finishing 6th, 7th, and 8th, respectively. The 200m final came after the 400m dash, in which Longley blazed to a 2nd-place time of 50.64, edging off the 3rd-place finisher by only .03 seconds.
The mid-distance events also featured a number of standout performances. In the 600m, sophomores Scott Brinkman and Alex Landy held nothing back as they were cheered on by the screaming crowd. Brinkman finished 6th with a personal-best time of 1:23.04, and Landy crossed the line in 10th with a PR of his own, running 1:24.07. The 1000m saw all three Jumbos racing aggressively from start to finish. Sophomore Billy Hale powered his way to a 7th-place time of 2:32.88, and freshman Greg Pallotta and senior Matt Alander
ran personal records from the first heat in 2:34.76 and 2:35.26, respectively.The mile was highlighted by senior captain Dave Sorensen's incredible 4th-place finish, crossing the line in 4:16.04--another personal best for Sorensen, and only .04 seconds off of an NCAA provisional qualification. Sophomore Jesse Faller lived up to his seeding by winning the 3000m by more than a second, crossing the line with arms raised in 8:39.50. And in the 5000m, sophomore Nick Welch ran an incredible race, tactically and gutsily, crossing the line in a 3rd-place time of 15:10.26, only .06 seconds ahead of 4th place.
In the jumps, junior James Bradley earned his first New England title with a leap of 2.02m (6' 7.5"), the highest he has ever jumped indoors. Senior captains Jeremy Arak and Scott both cleared 1.87m (6' 1.5"), tying them for 4th place. Senior captain Dan Marcy finished 2nd in the triple jump, improving his indoor PR and NCAA provisional qualification to 14.31m (46' 11.5"). Perhaps the biggest field event performance of the day for Tufts, though, was freshman Sam Read's 3rd place finish in
the pole vault. Read set a new personal best for the second week in a row with a clearance of 4.25m (13' 11.25"); Read's PR on his first attempt earned him a 3rd place finish.The three relays featured some of the most passionate performances of the meet. In the Distance Medley Relay, freshmen Greg Pallotta and Jeremy Peterson, sophomore Billy Hale, and senior captain Dave Sorensen held nothing back as they ran to a stunning 10:23.32 victory by a mere .41 seconds. Following the DMR tradition started at last spring's NESCAC Championships, Sorensen anchored the relay by making up a 12-second deficit and leaning across the finish line to secure the championship for Tufts. The Jumbos in the building leapt and shouted and embraced Sorensen. Feeding off of that energy, the 4x400 relay team of senior Derek Engelking, sophomores Andrew Longley and Jared Engelking, and freshman Matt Keefer, with 11 events between them already, muscled their way to a 6th-place finish of 3:26.96. And in the 4x800m, the last event of the meet, sophomores Josh Gordon, Jesse Faller, and Alex
Landy, and senior Matt Alander toed the line in the first heat knowing they had to win the section to have a chance at scoring. Feeding off of the pressure, the foursome handily won their heat and ended up finishing in 8th with a time of 8:09.27. Yet even with the tremendous performances just noted, this win could not have happened with only the names listed above. With the support of so many alumni, both present and in spirit, the current Jumbos were able to fight and claw for every inch this weekend. This was a meet for head coach Ethan Barron, and for assistant coaches Kevin Bright, Rod Hemingway, Adam Carberry, Ed Arcaro, and Molly Dickens; this was a meet for our trainers and our weight room staff; and of course, this was a meet for the members of the 2008 Tufts Men's Track team, who leaned through every finish, reached for every inch, and pressed for every second. All Jumbos--past and present--should embrace this long-awaited victory; seniors on this team were not even in kindergarten the last
time the Division III New England Championship trophy was sitting in the Tufts track office. It is a proud moment for the Tufts University Men's Track Team.A smaller squad will return to Boston University's banked track next weekend for the 2008 Open New England Championships. We hope to see you there. GO JUMBOS!!
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