Teams: Men's Track & Field: Press Releases

Wednesday, March 7, 2007

THREE FROM TRACK & FIELD TEAMS GARNER NEW ENGLAND HONORS

MEDFORD -- Three members of the Tufts men's and women's indoor track & field teams are part of a distinguished group of coaches and athletes receiving regional awards for the 2007 Division III season, the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) announced today.

Men's and women's coaches, track athletes and field athletes are honored in eight regions around the country. The 2007 New England Region honorees include Men's Coach of the Year Ethan Barron from Tufts, Men's Field Athlete of the Year Fred Jones (Northfield, MA/Northfield Mt. Hermon), a senior tri-captain at Tufts, and Women's Track Athlete of the Year Catherine Beck (Brookline, NH/Hollis-Brookline), a Tufts junior. Tufts took three of the six New England Region awards overall.

In Barron's second season as head coach, Tufts finished second at the New England Division III Championships with 103 points. Juniors Nathan Scott (East Hartford, CT/East Hartford) and Jeremy Arak (Ipswich, MA/Ipswich) won individual titles in the pentathlon and high jump, respectively. Jones will represent the Jumbos at the NCAA Championships in the long and triple jumps. This is third Coach of the Year honor of Barron's young career. He was the New England Small College Athletic Conference's (NESCAC) Cross Country Co-Coach of the Year in 2005 and Outdoor Track & Field Coach of the Year in 2006.

Jones qualified for his seventh NCAA meet this winter. He is seeded fourth in the long jump (23 feet, 8 � inches) and ninth (47' 3 ��) in the triple jump at this weekend's NCAA Division III Indoor Championships. The triple jump took second at the Open New England Championships, and his long jump won at the MIT Invitational on February 10. Jones won the triple jump at last year's NCAA outdoor meet.

This is the second straight year that Beck has been named the USTFCCCA New England Indoor Track Athlete of the Year. She is the nation's fastest Division III performer in the 5,000 meters (16:45.33). She will also compete with the second-ranked distance medley relay at the NCAA meet. Beck won two events at the New England Division III Championships this season, running the mile in 4 minutes, 57.88 seconds and the 3,000 meters in 9:52.70 for the victories. It was the second year in a row that she won the mile.

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