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Teams: Men's Track & Field: Team
Overview
 With outstanding talent, superior facilities and a rich
tradition, the Tufts University men's track & field program is among
the best in the nation. The program successfully entered a new era
two years ago under Coach Ethan Barron and continues to maintain its
status among the most elite programs.
The Tufts men achieve great team and individual success
throughout the year. Last spring, the outdoor track & field team tied for first place
at the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC)
Championships in the spring. Several athletes went on to earn
national recognition as well. Fred Jones achieved three additional
All-American certificates during the indoor and outdoor seasons in
the triple and long jumps. He graduated lasat May with 10
All-American honors, making him the most nationally decorated track
& field athlete in Tufts history. Fellow Jumbos Dave Sorensen and
Skip Pagel also garnered All-American honors in the 3,000 meter
steeplechase and decathlon, respectively.
For the 2007-08 seasons, the indoor and outdoor track & field
teams return Sorensen and Pagel, along with national qualifiers
Jeremy Arak and James Bradley in the high jump, Dan Marcy in the
triple jump, as well as Jared and Derek Engelking in the decathlon.
On the coaching front, Rod Hemingway, Ed Arcaro, Kevin Bright,
Molly Dickens, Scott Benowicz and Adam Carberry will all assist
Barron this year. Hemingway is a 1998 Tufts
graduate who finished sixth at the 1997 Cross Country Nationals.
Arcaro is a UMass graduate who competed in three Olympic trials as a
thrower. Bright was a three-time All-American in the 400m hurdles at
Middlebury, and is now in his second year as an assistant coach with
the Jumbos. Dickens and Benowicz, both graduates of Cornell,
specialize in the pole vault and javelin, respectively. Carberry
works alongside Hemingway to give mid-distance and distance athletes
full attention.
Barron was a captain, Academic All-American, school-record holder
and All-American on the Middlebury College track team. He came to Tufts as a
graduate assistant coach in the fall of 2002 and earned his Master's
in educational studies. As an assistant, Barron worked primarily with
Jumbo sprinters, jumpers, and hurdlers. Since his promotion to head
coach, he has
worked to expand the coaching staff by adding multiple assistants to
the coaching team.
In 2005, Barron was elected New England Small College Athletic
Conference (NESCAC) Coach of the Year for both cross country and
track & field. Last season, Barron received similar accolades during
the indoor and outdoor track & field seasons. He earned the NESCAC
Coach of the Year for the spring, and was voted New England Coach of
the Year during the indoor and outdoor seasons.
As members of the NESCAC,
Tufts is part of the nation's most competitive small college
conference academically and athletically. The NESCAC is a group of
highly selective liberal arts colleges and universities that share
an academics-first philosophy for intercollegiate athletics. The
Tufts program has matched its competitive success with academic
achievement. During the indoor season, the Tufts men were named the
National All-Academic Team of the Year after compiling a 3.3 grade
point average and placing seventh at the NCAA Indoor Championships.
Additionally, team members Jones, Mickey Ferri and Scott Merrick
received three of the 12 Tufts Alumni Association awards for their
outstanding academic and athletic achievements. Twenty-two Jumbos
were also named to the Aacademic All-America team during the last
two years.
Located right outside of Boston, Tufts offers a well-rounded
collegiate experience to student-athletes. Within its picturesque
small-college campus, Tufts is a major university with "an
unprecedented diversity of programs, exceptional faculty and staff,
and bright and talented students," according to President Lawrence
S. Bacow. The Athletics Department sponsors a varsity program of 28
sports that is among the most competitive in the NCAA's Division
III. Tufts finished sixth in the 2006 U.S. Sports Academy Directors'
Cup, the award presented annually to the best overall
collegiate athletics programs int eh country. The University's
proximity to a world-class city renowned for its academic
institutions is also a major draw.
The Gantcher Family Sports and Convocation Center opened in November
1999 and is one of the country's finest indoor facilities. The
Clarence "Ding" Dussault outdoor complex was resurfaced in 2004 and
has returned to its status as one of the top outdoor ovals in New
England.
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