Season Opens With Alumni Invite - Faller Qualifies For Nationals With School Record 5k

(12/5/2009) See more Photos     Full Results

PR's, Top 10 performances, School Records, National Qualifiers... it was quite the season opener and Alumni Invitational this Saturday as the Jumbos kicked off the 2010 campaign. Many members of the class of 2013 got their first taste of collegiate track, and even with many athletes waiting until January to first put on the spikes, one thing was clear: this may be one of the deepest and most well rounded TUTF squads in recent memory.

The meet opener was the 3k and saw sophomore Scott McArthur negative-split an impressive early season PR of 9:04.36, cutting seven seconds off his previous best of 9:11. Just behind him, senior captain Billy Hale, a mid-distance runner by specialty, showed some range as he finished in second in a PR 9:12.46. An hour later, the mile saw four freshmen follow their strong debut cross-country seasons with a great start to the indoor track campaign. Led by Sam Haney kicking hard for a 4:33.59, classmates Dan Kirschner, Luke Maher, and Adam Brosh all joined Haney in the top five.

There is a great deal of potential in the class of 2013—and not just in the distance events. First year Vinnie Lee took the win in the 55m in a solid 6.81. In the pole vault, freshman Brad Nakanishi looked strong going over 4.04m for second place, with junior Sam Read clearing 4.34m just days after returning from a semester abroad. Perhaps most impressive, freshman Curtis Yancy snuck onto the Top 10 list in his first collegiate meet with his 13.90m in the shot put. Teammate Alex Gresham hurled a PR throw of 11.71m in the shot and followed it up with a solid 13.97m in the weight throw.

Not to be outdone, alum Joe Brown ('08) put up 16.41m in the 35# weight for a lifetime PR of his own. Alum/coach Jeremy Arak also took the victory in the 55mH in 8.87. Nonetheless, the current squad was able to take down the graduates, 53.5 to 44.5.

Across town, a lone member of TUTF suited up for a go at an NCAA qualifying time in the 5k at the Northeastern Husky Winter Carnival at the Reggie Lewis Center. Fresh off his 8th place at the NCAA Cross Country Championships just three weeks prior, senior Jesse Faller ran one of the toughest races of his career, closing hard to finish in a national leading PR and school record of 14:30.47. Faller's mark took down the previous record of 14:33.34 by Nate Brigham ('06) by almost three seconds and was just a few ticks off of the NCAA automatic qualifier.

The weekend showed that the 2010 squad is off to a great start, well ahead of where they were even in January of last year. After resting this past weekend, the Tufts multis will head up to Lewiston, ME, and look to get some early season qualifiers out of the way at the Bates Pentathlon. And after a restful winter break, the whole team will reunite in early January for two weeks of training before the spring semester begins.


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