Teams: Men's Track & Field: Press Releases

Monday, March 7, 2005

SIX MEN TO COMPETE AT NCAA ITRACK AND FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS

MEDFORD -- The field for the 2005 NCAA Division III Men's Indoor Championships has been announced, and a total of six Jumbo men will represent Tufts in three different events. The 2005 NCAA Championships will take place at Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington, Illinois on March 11-12.

Representing Tufts in the field events is sophomore Fred Jones (Northfield, MA/Northfield Mt. Hermon), who will see action in the long jump and in the triple jump for the Jumbos. Jones is seeded second in the long jump with a season-best mark of 23 feet, 9 inches (7.24 meters), set on February 19 at the New England Division III Championships hosted by Tufts University. Jones is the third seed in the triple jump, more commonly his stronger event, with a 47-11 1/4 (14.61m) best at Northeastern on December 4. The long jump preliminaries and final are on Friday starting at 11 am CST. The triple jump prelims and final will be competed on Saturday at 1:30 pm.

Distance specialist Nate Brigham (Penacook, NH/Merrimack Valley) will compete in the 5,000 meter run for the Jumbos. Seeded eighth in the field of 12, Brigham ran his best time of the season - 14:39.09 (adjusted) - at Boston University' s St. Valentine Invitational on February 11. The 5,000 race goes off on Friday at 7:35 pm.

Brigham and Jones both turned in top 10 performances at last year' s NCAA indoor meet. Jones was sixth in the triple jump with a 47-4 1/2 leap. Brigham was ninth in the 5,000 meters with 15:00.06 time. Tufts placed 40th at the meet as a team.

The Distance Medley has been Tufts' top relay all season and will get a chance to prove itself on a national level this weekend. The squad of senior Aaron Kay Fortin (Los Altos, CA/Los Altos), junior Trevor Williams (Clifton Park, NY/Shenendehowa), junior Patrick Mahoney (Cranberry, NJ) and junior Matt Forin (Raymond, ME/North Yarmouth Academy) is seeded ninth in the field of 10 with a season-best time of 10:02.93 (adjusted), set at the St. Valentine's Invitational on February 11. At press time, Kaye was expected to lead off in the 12, followed by Williams on the 400 leg, Mahoney in the 8 and Fortin in the anchor mile. The DMR closes Friday' s action with a starting time of 8:40 pm.

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