Men's Track Edges Tufts by 12 at NESCACs
CLINTON, N.Y. - The Williams Mens Track & Field team beat the odds this Saturday to defeat Tufts University by 12 points, 195-183, in a close battle for the NESCAC Championship at Hamilton College's Walter H. Pritchard Track & Field Complex. The Ephs utilized both the sheer depth of the large team in combination with talent in order to pull off the upset. Many Williams athletes competed in multiple events in the effort to outrun, jump, and throw the other NESCAC schools.
The key events to the Eph's victory were the middle distance races - specifically, the 1500-meter run, the 400-meter dash, and the 800-meter run. There were no Tufts finishers in the top-10 of either the 1500 and the 800, while Williams placed five runners among those spots. In the 1500, Mack Chaffee '09 continued his season-long reliability with a fast 3:54.41 for third place. By snagging seventh place, freshman Brian Cole (3:57.07) had the best performance thus far in his young Williams career. Cole spent the entire winter nursing nagging injuries, and only began to get back into consistent training during spring break. The 800 featured sophomore standout Edgar Kosgey and seniors Mack Brickley and Chris Beeler in 4-5-7 finishes. Kosgey ran 1:53.64 for fourth, while Brickley ran 1:54.24, and Beeler closed for 1:55.12. The 400-meter dash was the Williams race of the day as four Ephs swept the top-four places, finishing within one second of each other. Junior Deividas Seferis led the purple pack with a blazing 49.05, as Andrew Arons ‘08 followed in 49.46. Alex Hoerman '09 and Taylor Fitzgerald '11 completed the sweep with times of 49.61 and 49.73 respectively.
The 400-meter Hurdles race proved to be another source of success for the Ephs as Williams placed four runners in the top-10 of that event. Stuart Buck '09 continued his role as the team's top 400-meter hurdler, finishing second overall in 55.49 seconds behind Tufts' Trevor Donadt, who ran 54.33. Tufts' first place finish in the event didn't faze the rest of the Williams hurdlers. Freshman Matt Sullivan ran 56.18 for fourth place, as Jared Oubre '08 ran 56.67, and Matt Desir '08 finished in 57.57. Oubre's performance stands out as this one-lap race is a far cry from his usual 3000-meter steeplechase duties.
The field events were a battleground with Tufts and Williams athletes going back-and-forth in the tight competition for each and every point. In the long jump, two Tufts jumpers placed eighth and ninth, as sophomore Henry Montalbano placed tenth with a jump of 5.98 meters. Isaac Nicholson '11 had Montalbano's back as he took eleventh place with 5.97 meters. Williams' John Dingee (13.56 meters), David Kessel '08 (13.29), and Steve Rubin '11 (13.19) took places 7-8-9 in the triple jump, as Tufts athletes claimed second and tenth. In the Javelin, senior Andrew DeSalvo threw 49.90 meters for sixth place, finishing behind two of Tufts throwers who claimed fourth and fifth. The see-sawing continued in the hammer throw as freshman Matt Farley threw 48.73 meters for third place, and Tufts' Joe Brown finished in fourth with 48.48.
A similar Tufts-Williams clash continued in the 100- and 200-meter sprint events. Arons '08 (10.88 seconds) and Seferis ‘09 (10.89 seconds) went 1-2 in the 100-meter dash, as Tufts' Phil Rotella and Andrew Longley came in third and fourth with runs of 11.09 and 11.16, respectively. The two teams claimed identical an identical finish, albeit with a slightly different athlete makeup, in the 200-meter dash. Seferis outleaned teammate Arons 21.61 seconds to 21.65, as two Tufts runners closed quickly behind them. Fitzgerald '11 came in fifth with 22.62.
Illustrating the competitiveness of both Tufts and Williams are the finishes in the distance events. The 3000-meter steeplechase, the 5000-meter run, and the 10,000-meter run kept alive the point-splitting from the field and sprint events.
In the first running event of the day, Corey Watts ‘10 ran a very solid race to take second in the 10k with a time of 32:14, as Morgan Seybert '08 came in sixth with 33:24.64. Tufts kept in the mix as their runners snagged the fifth, seventh, and eight places. The Jumbos' Jess Faller finished first in the 5000-meter run with a time of 15:10.22, while Williams' Corey Levin '08 chased into third with 15:23.25. Sophomore Jeff Perlis snuck into the top-10 with a 15:34.64 for ninth place. Tufts got another "W" in the steeplechase as Dave Sorenson finished first in a quick 9:10.73, but the senior steeple duo of Grant Burgess and Jared Oubre claimed the next two spots with times of 9:31.26 and 9:32.36.
Finally, The Ephs' depth and talent came together nicely in the relay events as Williams took first place in the 4x100, 4x400, and distance-medley relay races.
Next week the Ephs head off to New London, CT, for the Division III New England Championships.
|
| Taylor Fitzgerald (l.), Andrew
Arons & Alex Hoerman/photo by Grant Fullman |
|
| Taylor Fitzgerald receives the
baton from Stew Buck/ photo by Grant Fullman |
