Spring Invite and Spring Weather Lead Jumbos to Great Performances

(4/19/2008) Full Results

As the temperature got hot at the MIT Spring Invitational, so did the Tufts Men's Track Team. The first summery day of the season saw PRs, season bests, and qualifiers across the board, even after another intense week of training.

In the 100m dash, junior Colin Fitzgerald tied his PR with a time of 11.18 seconds, finishing in 4th place. Senior Marcus Boggis and sophomore Marc Soskin were close behind with season-best times of 11.44 and 11.46, respectively. Fitzgerald also came back to run the 200m dash in a time of 22.75 seconds, not far behind the top Tufts finisher, sophomore Andrew Longley, who finished in a season-best time of 22.31. Soskin also came back to run the 200m in a college-best time of 23.27. The trio of Fitzgerald, Longley, and Soskin, as well as senior captain Nate Scott, ran the 4x100m relay in a season-best time of 43.14 seconds.

Longley finished his busy day with the 400m dash, barely beating classmate Scott Brinkman. The two ran times of 50.69 and 50.91, respectively. In the 800m, sophomore Jason Hanrahan continued his return to form with a time of 2:01.30. Classmate Adrian Dahlin followed in 2:01.76. Sophomore Billy Hale was the top Tufts finisher in the 1500m, running a personal-best time of 4:03.81. Freshman Jeff Ragazzini improved yet again with a time of 4:09.29, and senior Matt Alander PR'ed with a time of 4:11.86.

Sophomore Jesse Faller won the 5000m with an outdoor best time of 15:02.85, beating the second-place finisher by almost 30 seconds. In the 110m hurdles, sophomore Ikenna Acholonu was the top Jumbo, finishing 2nd with a time of 15.34. Nate Scott ran a time of 15.80, and sophomore Bobby Bardin smashed his PR by over half a second, running a time of 16.59. Bardin and Scott also ran the 400m hurdles, running 59.44 (a .69-second PR) and 56.44, respectively.

Senior captain Jeremy Arak won the high jump after clearing a bar at 1.95m (6' 4.75"). Freshman Sam Read was the top Tufts pole vaulter, reaching 3.90m (12' 9.5"). Senior Joe Brown launched a second-place throw in the discus, reaching 37.67m (123' 7"). Brown also threw the hammer a distance of 46.79m (153' 6"), missing 1st place by only 4 inches. In his third throwing event of the day, the shot put, Brown reached a distance of 12.36m (40' 6.75"), barely edging out teammate David Dorman, who threw 12.34, (40' 6").

The horizontal jumps were highlighted by senior captain Dan Marcy, who smashed his PR in the long jump by a whole foot, jumping a distance of 6.41m (21' 0.5"), and just missed his lifetime best in the triple jump with a leap of 14.72m (48' 3.5"). Classmate Jake Fromer tied his PR in the long jump with a distance of 6.24m (20' 5.75"), and set another PR in the triple jump, landing a jump of 13.68m (44' 10.75").

The meet was an outstanding tune-up before the NESCAC Championships. Cheer for the Jumbos at Hamilton College next Saturday as they seek to win their first outright NESCAC title since 1991.


Full Results