Jumbos Compete at ECAC Championships

(5/19/2006) Full Results

A few Jumbos traveled to Springfield College on Thursday to take part in the first day of competition at ECAC championships. Some athletes were looking for national qualifiers while others were looking to end their seasons on positive notes.

Sophomore Nathan Scott was the first to compete for Tufts this weekend. Nate has been a question mark for the past few weeks as he hurt his hamstring during the triple jump at the New England Division III meet two weeks ago. He was able to do some strides and hold his top speed, and decided to give it another shot in the Decathlon. In the first event, the 100 meter dash, Nate pulled up 40 meters into the race because of his hamstring. Although an unfortunate end to his season, Nate will get healthy and come back stronger next season.

Shortly after, Senior Timothy Bassell took the runway for his final collegiate Pole Vault. Tim had yet another excellent performance with a vault of 13-03.75. The strides that he has made this season are nothing short of extraordinary. After suffering an ankle injury that kept him out of competition for a year and a half, Tim returned to shock everybody including himself. Coming into the season with a PR of 11-03, Tim beat out all expectations as he improved to 13-11.25. For his efforts, his teammates voted him the Most Improved Athlete for the outdoor season. Considering all his accomplishments, Tim has much to be proud of.

Also competing on Thursday were Jason Galvin and Joe Brown. Joe qualified for this meet with a seven foot PR from Div III New England?s. While he didn't match his throw from two weeks ago, he did throw the hammer 150-11, for his second best meet ever. Jason came into the meet on the bubble for the NCAA Championships. His fifth place throw of 175-01 did not improve his standing on the national list; however he still is in the top 16.

The beautiful weather that Tim, Nate, Jason and Joe enjoyed on Thursday was long gone on Friday. It was raining heavily in the morning, was expected to lighten up as the day progressed. On the drive to Springfield, the team drove right up on a tanker that overturned on I-90. The detour took added much time to the trip. Unfortunately, we arrived to the track about 30 minutes before the High Jump.

The High Jumpers had a tough task on hand. They had to warm up quickly and jump on a wet track. Jeremy Arak, Ted McMahan, and James Bradley were only able to clear entry height. The conditions affected all of the jumpers as the winning height was only 6-02.75.

Just after the High Jump, Fred Jones was to compete in the Long Jump. Fred needed to jump around 7.20m to have a legitimate shot at competing in this event at nationals. Fred looked fast and strong but only measured a jump of 6.80m. His mark earned him fourth place.

Patrick Mahoney was the next Jumbo to compete. Pat was hoping to improve on the 1:53.91 that he ran on this track two weeks ago. His legs weren't exactly up to the task but he still ran a good time of 1:56.67. Pat will also be lost to graduation. His work ethic was an example to every member of the team.

The rain began to subside, and the clouds parted a bit just in time for the Triple Jump. Sophomore Dan Marcy came into the meet ranked 21st in Division III and needed to jump a few inches farther in order to make the cut for Nationals. Dan had an excellent series, but after five jumps did not have the mark he was looking for. On his last attempt, Dan put it together to jump 14.50/47-07. His mark put him in a tie for second, but he earned the tiebreaker because of a better second jump.

Lastly, the 4x4 team of Nate Cleveland, Dustin Virgilio, James Bradley and Pat Mahoney took to the track. Each ran strong legs in an exciting race against Springfield College and NYU. Springfield won the heat while Tufts followed in second. Their time of 3:23.37 earned them eighth place overall.

This concludes the season for most of the Jumbos. Next week, Jason Galvin will compete at the NCAA Championships in the Hammer Throw. Meanwhile, Dan Marcy and Fred Jones will be in the Triple Jump. Chris Kantos qualified unexpectedly in the 10000 meter run. These four will represent Tufts at Nationals.


Full Results