Jumbos Open Season at Husky Carnival

(12/3/2005) Full Results

The 2005-2006 Indoor Track season got off to a strong start on Saturday. With nearly forty Jumbos competing and most of the Cross Country runners taking the weekend off, the team showed that depth is one of its strengths. After months of grueling practices on the track, on the streets, and in the weightroom, the Husky Carnival served as a starting point for the dedicated athletes on the Track Team.

The sprinters were lead by Jamil Ludd?s fourth place finish in the 55 meter Hurdles, with a time of 7.99 seconds?less than a tenth of a second off of his personal best. Following this standout performance, the Jumbos boasted five runners under 53 seconds in the 400m. Co-captain Trevor Williams led the quarter-milers with an impressive early-December time of 51.54 seconds. Junior Dustin Virgilio followed close behind with a time of 52.00 seconds, but it was the strong freshman class that cancelled any doubts that Tufts would be lacking in the sprints this year; James Bradley, Phil Rotella, and Fielding ?Skip? Pagel finished within .32 seconds of each other.

Coming off of one of the most successful Cross Country seasons in Tufts history, the distance runners were excited to see how their transitions between the two seasons helped them adjust to running laps indoors. While most of the distance crew took the day off, those who did run were able to post strong early-season marks. Junior Nate Cleveland led the milers with a time of 4:36.53. In the 3000 meter run, Senior Matt Fortin finished 10th with a time of 8:56.74. Junior Chad Uy nearly missed his personal best, running a time of 9:12.85.

The Tufts jumpers and throwers continued the successful trend that their teammates started, with many of the competitors posting strong marks for such an early meet. Sophomore Dan Marcy led the horizontal jumpers with a third-place finish in the triple jump. His distance of 13.09 meters (42?11.5?) was over three feet better than his performance at this meet last year. In the high jump, Sophomore Jeremy Arak also scored a third-place finish for the team. His leap of 1.93 meters (6?4?) was only one inch below his lifetime best. Freshmen James Bradley and Ted McMahan were close behind, each jumping 1.88 meters (6?2?).

While the Jumbos are happy with their performances, they are looking at this meet as only a starting point for what should be a fun and successful season. The next meet is the Dartmouth Relays, to be held on January 8, 2006 in Hanover, NH.


Full Results