Jumbos Continue to Roll at Jerry Gravel Invite

(4/2/2010)

On a chilly, early spring day, nine local members of the Tufts University track & field team traveled to Westfield State College's new facility for the Jerry Gravel Classic. The track events opened with senior Jesse Faller, fresh off his indoor All-American performance in the 5k, running a smart but conservative 1500m. Faller showed early season strength in fending off all runners, including two All-New England UConn runners in the final 400m, to win in 3:59.38. Faller came back a few hours later to win the 800m in 1:56.22, a four second PR from last year's outdoor campaign. Freshman Vinnie Lee opened up his first-year outdoor season with a solid effort in the 100m. His 11.52 is a great step in a positive direction following a very successful high school career. Two distance Jumbos closed out the meet with the men's 5K. Junior Sam Hutchinson and first-year Andy Haskell picked up right where they left off indoors building on their increased training base. Hutchinson ran his best 5k of the year, so far, in 16:05.7 and Haskell wasn't far off his indoor PR in 16:49.2.

In the field, Jonathan Pak continued his aggressive approach in the long jump while freshman Gbola Ajayi set a new collegiate PR of 6.27m. Pak followed up with a season PR in the 200m. A trio of Jumbos (Alex Gresham, Curtis Yancy, Adam Aronson) PRed in the hammer throw including Alex Gresham's 50.77m, just five feet from a NCAA provisional mark.

Look for the Tufts squad to continue their impressive season next weekend with their home invitational. The question of the week will be whether or not the Snowflake Classic will live up to its name or not.