4th Place at NESCACs Puts Youth on Display

(5/8/2011 4:20 PM) See more Photos     Full Results

After a long wait, Mother Nature finally rewarded New England with its first real day of outdoor track weather. Just in time as the Tufts Track and Field squad headed to Wesleyan University for the 2011 NESCAC Championships. Needless to say, the Jumbos took advantage of the occasion posting a number of outstanding performances. As a whole, the team finished 4th overall with 99.5 points.

Although it was the first time that the Jumbos failed to break the 100-point mark since 2001, much of the meet was a display of the Jumbo youth. With only 10 points graduating for this year’s 99.5 total, there is an exciting air of optimism over the team’s future. Sophomore Matt Rand saw that the day got off to a great start as he battled a strong field for 3rd overall in the 10k. Rookie Tyler Andrews added his own 8th place finish giving some support to Rand.

From there, it was an onslaught of Jumbo field event performances. Three Jumbos scored in PV. Leading the way was sophomore Brad Nakanishi (2nd) while senior Sam Read (3rd) and freshman David Sutherland (8th) each vaulted strong. Gbola Ajayi was the teams lone representative in the long jump; however, his performance was good enough for a 3rd place overall. Ajayi would add another 3rd place finish in the triple jump with his jump of 46-1.25. Rounding out the Tufts jumps was the 1-2 finish for sophomore Mike Blair and junior Alex Orchowski in the HJ. Blair soared over 6-7 for a lifetime PR while Orchowski’s jump of 6-5 was a PR of his own.

In the throws, senior Alex Gresham, sophomore Curtis Yancy, and freshman Atticus Swett put two scorers in each of the discus, hammer, and shot put. The javelin was the sole field event that the Jumbos failed to take home points in. And they narrowly missed that feat as Swett finished 9th overall in the event.

On the track, it was again a great display of youth for the Jumbos. With the exception of the 5k and 200m dash, the top two finishers for the Jumbos in every event was either a freshman or sophomore. And in the case of the 5k and 200m, the 2nd finisher was still only a junior. Some of the most notable performances had to be the pair of 3rd place finishes from rookies Dan Lange Vagle and Liam Cassidy. Each broke the Freshman Record in their respective events. Lange-Vagle’s 11.17 in the 100m bested a 20+ year old record while Cassidy’s 14:59 in 5k bettered sophomore Kyle Marks’ 1-year-old record. Cassidy also became the 3rd freshman in the last 25+ years to break the 15:00 barrier in the 5k. Sophomore Matt Rand was the 2nd to do it last year.


See more Photos   Full Results