Small Squad Finishes Hard at ECACs
(3/4/2007) Full ResultsA small squad of Jumbos hit Middletown, CT this Friday and Saturday in search of some late season PR's and national qualifiers. The core of Tufts athletes would take home a handful of personal bests, but regretfully no additional qualifiers for next weeks national meet. Wesleyan University played host to the ECAC Championships this weekend where the Jumbos finished 10th out of 55 schools with a limited core of competitors.
With many athletes already shifting their training towards the outdoor season, a collection of 16 Jumbos sought to finish off their indoor season in grand fashion. The competition began with Skip Pagel in the pentathlon. This would mark Pagel's third pentathlon of the season. This final effort would yield the same result as the previous two, a personal record. Pagel began the multi-event with a personal best of 8.44 in the 55mHH. Following that up with solid performances in the LJ, SP, and HJ he would enter the final event in a respectable 7th place. With a third place finish in the 1000m run, Pagel vaulted into 3rd place with his cumulative total of 3226 points.
Ikenna Acholonu would follow Pagel's lead in the open 55mHH as he knocked off an additional 4 hundredths from his PR with his time of 7.80. Acholonu would finish his first season in a Tufts uniform just a mere .05 away from the national qualification mark of 7.75. Look for Ikenna to make a serious run at the 110HH qualifier this outdoor season.
Also competing that Friday night were the pair of Tufts 5,000m runners Dave Sorensen and Chad Uy. Running out of the unseeded section for the 2nd straight week, Sorensen went on to win his heat and finish in 7th place with a PR of 15:12.23. Both Sorensen and Uy look forward to getting back to their primary event in outdoor track, the 3,000m steeplechase.
On day two the Jumbos saw another string of solid performances. Jeremy Arak would finish in a respectable 3rd place behind two of the top four high jumpers in the country. Arak picked up where he left off last year continuing his success in his junior indoor season. He has now won the past three New England titles in the high jump dating back to the 2006 indoor season. He has done an excellent job in leading a young core of Tufts high jumpers that grabbed four places at this year's regional championships.
Later in the day, the duo of Billy Hale and Nate Cleveland would test their legs in yet another 800m. Regretfully, the length of the indoor season would prove a bit too much for the pair as they finished 7th and 8th. Even with tired legs, the two managed to set themselves up very well and fight home in a pair of 1:58's. Marking the last individual race of Cleveland's indoor career, it was only fitting that Hale edged him out and takes the torch of Tufts mid-distance running going forward from the Senior captain.
After cooling down, Cleveland again geared up for the final race of his indoor career, anchoring the 4x400m team of Jared Engelking, Andrew Longley, and Dustin Virgilio. They had hopes of equaling the previous week;s 3:21. Going toe-to-toe with Plattsburgh State for the first 900m, the Plattsburgh 3rd leg squeaked in front of the Jumbo runner. Cleveland would match the Plattsburgh anchor leg stride for stride over the final 400m, although unable to overtake him. The team would finish a strong 3rd place in a very competitive and physical field.
When all was said and done, it has been an amazingly successful season for the Tufts University Jumbos this winter. With one meet left to the season, Fred Jones heads to Terra Haute, IN in search of his 8th and 9th All America titles. He is currently ranked 4th in the long jump and 9th in the triple jump. Both events are very tight contests and centimeters will separate out the All Americans from the also-ran's. Jones brings a pair of fresh legs and some veteran experience that many athletes will not. It should be an exciting week as Jones gears up for NCAA's and the rest of the squad shifts their training toward the outdoor season.
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