Tufts Invades Armory

(3/12/2012 7:27 PM) See more Photos     Full Results

In the weeks leading up the ECAC Championships, the Tufts Men's Track & Field team had successfully created serious momentum piling one stellar performance upon another. They traveled to the NYC armory with their sites set on continuing that progression over the final two championship meets. The ECAC Championship presented both elite competition and a top tier facility for the Jumbos – a great opportunity to extend a season to the follow weeks NCAA Championships.

A duo of heptathletes kicked off the competition for the squad. After decent performances in the 60m dash where each ran 0.02-0.03 off their PRs, things really got rolling for the Jumbos. In his first LJ attempt sophomore Andrew Osborne assembled a jump of 22-0 (6.71m). It was a lifetime PR, top-10 All Time for Tufts, and a 54cm improvement from his previous heptathlon.

From there, both junior Mike Blair and Osborne added 4 more heptathlon PRs between the SP and HJ. Each posted day 1 PRs in great position for day 2. The pair picked up right where they left off with lifetime PRs in the 60mH. Osborne added another lifetime PR in the PV as well. After it all wrapped up, the Osborne posted a nearly 200 point PR in heptathlon and finished 2nd overall.

Also posting his own impressive PR and 2nd place finish was first-year shot putter Brian Williamson. He tacked on another 14cm to his PR improving to 51-5.75 (15.69m). Not to be outdone, his training partner, junior Curtis Yancy, added 2.18m to his WT, an unprecedented improvement. The epic PR moved Yancy up to 11th on the National list and made him a near lock for the National Championships.

The Jumbo highlights don’t stop there. The DMR quartet of Bobby McShane, Graham Beutler, Jeff Marvel, and Connor Rose also punched their ticket to Nationals as they improved their seed time to a 9:58.64. With a late burst of speed over the final 50m of the race, Rose outkicked the anchor legs from NYU, SUNY Geneseo, and TCNJ. his was a critical kick as it shored up the teams spot at the National meet.

Wrapping up an impressive avalanche of PR’s for the Tufts squad was a pair of 3k runners. Junior Kyle Marks and sophomore Jake McCauley each broke through to a new plateau with their 3k races at ECACs. Marks’ new PR of 8:29 and McCauleys’ 8:39 each took 8 seconds of their previous bests. Their races epitomized both the meet and the season for the Jumbos. Gutsy, tactical, and hard fought.

With a handful of athletes competing back in Boston at the IC4A Championships, the final crew that would travel to Nationals did not yet seem to be set. Many of these athletes will look to take this momentum into their outdoor seasons while some have more immediate goals in their sites…the upcoming National Championships.


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