Jumbos take 2nd at NESCAC's

(4/29/2006) See more Photos     Full Results

On a beautiful day at Bowdoin College, the Tufts track team worked hard to earn a second place finish. Williams College was victorious with an impressive 214 points while Tufts followed in second with 118.50. Middlebury and Bates rounded out the top four with cumulative scores of 105.50 and 93 points respectively.

Sophomore Chris Kantos got started off the meet for Tufts running in the 10K. Just a day and half earlier, Chris was running the 5K in Philadelphia at the Penn Relays. With minimal rest and having spent much time in buses, He still managed to put together a good race. Chris battled hard for 25 laps and finished third with a time of 31:34.55.

During the 10K, two field events were being contested. On the infield, four Jumbos
were competing in the Javelin. Dave McCleary headlined this group with his throw of 168-04--good enough for fifth place. Junior Dave Igbalajobi improved in his second collegiate in break. Behind the stands, a few more Tufts athletes were competing in the Pole Vault and Long Jump. All three vaulters were able to score points. Kenneth Kang placed seventh and Rob Lorie placed fifth. Senior Tim Bassell earned All-NESCAC honors with his third place finish. In the Long Jump, three athletes were also able to score as well. Kang and Nathan Scott both had jumps of 20'10.75" to placed 7th and 8th. Fred Jones, the defending NESCAC Long Jump champ for the past two years, struggled to find his form and finished third.

Next on the track was the 3000 meter Steeplechase. Both athletes in this event set new PR's. Chad Uy ran an excellent race to set a new best by nearly 23 seconds with a time of 9:47.29. This event at NESCAC's has become more competitive and unfortunately, Chad finished one spot out of scoring. Sophomore Dave Sorensen also ran a great race setting a new best by 15 seconds. Dave earned all conference honors with his third place finish of 9:32.44.

The High Jump was going on during the Steeplechase on the infield. Freshman Ted McMahan earned a 6th place finish. Fellow first year James Bradley had an amazing performance. James cleared 6'04"--just above last year's winning height, on his first attempt to finish fourth. Sophomore Jeremy Arak jumped very well. He cleared each height through 6'06". He had some good attempts at 2.04 but it was not to be. Although two other athletes also cleared 6'06", Arak earned the victory due to no misses.

The Triple Jump was yet another jumping event that featured three Jumbos earning scoring places. Fred Jones still had difficulty finding his rhythm but still finished fifth. Nathan Scott was a wildcard entry in this event and proved to be well worth the gamble. In his first time triple jumping this season, Nate set a lifetime PR of 45'07.75" to earn fourth place. Sophomore Dan Marcy jumped well to just squeak over the NCAA provisional mark. He jumped 46'02" on his first attempt to place third in a very competitive triple jump.

Junior Jamil Ludd finished 8th place in the 110 Hurdles. Jamil has struggled throughout the indoor and outdoor season after suffering a foot injury in January. Lookout for Jamil to come back strong for his senior season. Two more Jumbos set PR's in the 400 Hurdles. Dave McCleary PRed by almost a full second to finish in 58.37. Junior LeQuan Hunter ran his best race of the season. His PR of 57.19 seconds got him fifth place in the event.

In the 100 meters, Fred Jones ran well in the preliminary round to earn the last berth in the final. His 8th place finish earned the first Tufts points in the 100 in over a decade.

The Tufts throwers amassed important point for the Jumbos. Brandon Udelhofen earned fifth place in the Discus and eighth in the Hammer while captain Jason Galvin finished eight in the shot put. Jason's big performance came in the Hammer Throw. His PR of 179-07 won the event by seven inches and substantially improved his standing on the National List.

Senior Pat Mahoney competed well in the 800. He finished third to break up a quartet of Williams runners. His time of 1:55.30 was a new outdoor PR. Soon after the 800, Matt Lacey and Josh Kennedy took the track in the 5K. Kennedy placed fifth while recovering from illness. Lacey, who also ran at Penn Relays, won the event with a strong effort.

The 4x4 squad ran placed fifth with a good time of 3:24.65. Dustin Virgilio ran the strongest leg, splitting 49.5 seconds. Andy Bonventre and Kyle Doran closed out their Tufts running careers as they ran legs in the DMR.

At the end of the day, the Jumbos were satisfied with the team effort that earned them second place. Next weekend, Tufts will send a much smaller squad to the New England Division III Championships at Springfield which unfortunately coincide with final exams.



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