Engelking and Faller earn All American Honors

(3/13/2010) Full Results

The Jumbos looked to end their indoor campaign with a bang as they headed to Greencastle, IN for the national championships hosted by DePauw University. The six men were prepared for competition in the DMR, 5k, and pentathlon backed by two female competitors in the mile and TJ. After two days of competition against the best athletes in the nation, every Tufts athlete came home with All American honors or missed such honors by merely one spot. It was a great weekend for the Jumbos.

Senior, captain Jared Engelking got the competition off to a quick start in the pentathlon. It was an early start for a pentathlon with the 55mH going off at 9AM. Engelking, who went in seeded 12th of 13 pentathletes elevated his game to finish 7th overall. Jared blazed to a 7.77 in the 55mH for 2nd place overall in the event. For Engelking to only be 0.06 seconds off his PR with a 9AM start and in his first race of the day, it was easy to see that he came to compete.

On the other hand, the second event did not go as smoothly. Engelking struggled to find the board in the LJ and fouled his best jump of the day. His 2nd best performance in the hurdles fell to a 2nd worst performance in the LJ. However, this moment demonstrated Engelkings true strength as a multi-athlete. The captain, and 2x All American, has an incredible skill to shift gears from event to event. Less experienced would allow such an off performance on such a grand scale to affect their competition. Engleking, though, followed up his LJ with the 2nd best SP of his life, launching the 16# ball 12.31m.

From there Engelking had himself in the drivers seat and needed to hold off a slew of hungry pentathletes. With the HJ and 1000m not two of his stronger events, Engelking performed brilliantly to hold off a number of national caliber HJers and maintain his 7th place standing.

As the competition rolled on, the distance medley relay team of Sam Haney (Fr), Ben Crastnopol (So), Billy Hale (Sr), and Jesse Faller (Sr) toed the line against 10 of the best teams in the nation. Haney battle well with a tied field in the 1200m, but faded some in final 200m to hand off to Crastnopol in the back pack. Crastnopol battled through a tough 400m that was slowed slightly due to a leg injury. Hale and Faller both battled to try to get into the coveted 8th place and final All American spot, but came up a little short finishing 9th.

With a good nights sleep, Faller retuned the next day for a battle in the 5k. The race set up perfectly for Faller with an incredibly slow opening 3k. (You can read Coach Coogan’s thoughts here – http://gojumbos.com/cblog2) After an opening 3k in 9:15, Faller closed incredibly hard with a final 1k in 2:44. He outkicked a number of competitors with his final lap in 29 to finish 3rd place overall.

It was an amazing season for the Jumbos as a whole. 3rd place finish in the region, 2 All Americans, 5 school records, and a slew of Top 10 All Time performances all highlighted the winter season. The team has some great momentum rolling into the outdoor season that gets started next Friday in Myrtle Beach, SC. Stay tuned.


Full Results