Faller and Pagel Set School Records at UMass Amherst

(5/9/2009) Full Results

Reading Period - Check
Finals – Check
Open New Englands – Check
Two School Records – Check

Sometimes a distraction from competing is exactly what is called for. And you can always could on Finals Week supplying a time when track and field will be pushed to the back burner for a short period of time. With finals completed and another year of school behind them, for some the final of their four years at Tufts, the Jumbos headed west to UMass Amherst's newly renovated track and field facilities. And after two long, grueling days of competition, the Jumbos headed home after increasing their season total of PRs to 79 and with their 3rd and 4th school record in hand.

Getting things started for the Jumbos, senior captain Skip Pagel stepped onto the track at 8:30AM to start his decathlon warm ups. Few realized that he would also be the final individual Jumbo competing nearly 32 hours later as he battled through the 1500m to close out his impressive performance(s). With an unbelievably consistent string of performances, Pagel shattered his school record in the decathlon by tallying 6871 points and earning his 2nd Open New England title as well as an automatic qualifier for NCAAs.

Pagel's consistency and versatility is represented in the fact that only one of his events would have scored any points at the Division III NE Championships. With the exception of his HJ (6-2), not one of Pagel's performances would finish in the top 8 of the region. However, the sum of the parts was good enough to have him ranked 2nd in the nation in the multi-event.

Following Pagel's lead, junior Jesse Faller added to his tally of school records with his 2nd place finish in the 1500m. Faller won the 2nd section of the event beating all but one athlete in the seeded section with his time of 3:51.08. He qualified provisionally for nationals with the mark as well as bettering Mark Herlihy's 1988 school record by almost two seconds.

In addition to the pair of record breakers, the rest of the Jumbos posted some great performances. Junior Jared Engelking came off his national qualifying decathlon last week to improve on his 110H mark. He took off another few hundredths and improved his time to 14.73 seconds. He currently sits at 13th in the nation in the event. In the intermediate hurdles, classmate Trevor Donadt continued to recover from his knee injury to clock in at 56.37 seconds.

Junior Billy Hale and sophomore Jeff Ragazzini each added two great mid-D performances of their own. Hale battled through a separated rib to kick home for a 1:55 in the 800m. Hale has elevated his competitiveness to a new plateau as he is now able to put up a 1:55 even when fighting injury. Matching Hale's tenacity, Ragazzini became the 8th fastest 1500m runner on the Tufts All Time list with his PR of 3:59.93.

In addition the Jumbo sprinting core continued to improve on their already storied season. Senior Philip Rotella improved on his 400m mark with his 49.93 this weekend. Meanwhile, junior Andrew Longley and senior Colin Fitzgerald each posted season bests in the 100m with their 11.27 and 11.20 respectively. Longley added another SB in the 200m with his 22.48. Longley and Rotella were joined by freshmen Ben Crastnopol and Gabe Bourgeois in the 4x400 relay. The foursome put up a season best time of 3:22.17.

The Jumbos will finish up their regional season with the ECAC Championships at Springfield College this week. From there, they'll head to Marietta, OH, for the 2009 NCAA Championships. Stay tuned...


Full Results