Teams: Men's Track & Field: Press Releases

Monday, May 23, 2005

TUFTS TRIO SET FOR NCAA TRACK CHAMPIONSHIPS

MEDFORD – The Tufts University Men's Outdoor Track & Field team will send three athletes to compete at the 2005 NCAA Division III Championships at Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa on Thursday through Saturday (May 26-28).

Senior Nate Brigham (Penacook, NH/Merrimack Valley) qualified in both the 5,000 meters and in the 10,000 meters. Junior teammate Matt Lacey (Amherst, MA/Amherst) will join him in the 5,000 meters competition. Sophomore Fred Jones (Northfield, MA/Northfield Mt. Hermon) is entered in both the Long Jump and the Triple Jump.

Jones will be the first Jumbo in action when he competes in the Long Jump scheduled to start at 2:30 pm CST on Thursday. He finished the season ranked 14th in nationally in the event with a season' s best distance of 23 feet, 6 1/4 inches (7.17 meters) at the George Davis Invitational hosted by the University of Massachusetts Lowell on April 16.

Brigham, who will be pulling off a long distance double at the NCAA meet, will start with the 10K Finals on Thursday at 6:40 pm. The time of 30 minutes, 14.09 seconds that he ran at the Penn Relays on April 28 is 10th best in the nation entering the meet.

None of the Tufts contingent will compete on Friday, but they will be busy on Saturday. Jones, ranked sixth in the Triple Jump with a 48 feet flat (14.63m) effort at the ECAC Championships on Friday (May 21), will compete at 2:00.

Brigham and Lacey will run at 3:55 in the 5K finals, with a chance for both to score. Lacey ran the nation' s second-fastest time this season, 14:19.37, at the Penn Relays on April 28. Brigham' s 14:31.39 time at Tufts' Hillside Relays on April 8 is the 10th fastest time entering the meet.

Brigham will be running in his third outdoor nationals for the Jumbos. He competed in the 10,000 Meter Run as a sophomore in 2003 and finished 14th with a time of 32 minutes, 40.18 seconds. Last year he was 13th in the 10K (32:31.49). Jones was third in the Triple Jump at 48' 11" last year at the NCAA Outdoor Championships hosted by Millikin University in Decatur, Illinois.

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