Wesleyan’s stellar jumper Tommie Lark ’12 had a busy spring break, traveling to Capital University to compete in the NCAA Division III Championship Meet on Saturday, March 12. Earning a spot in the highly competitive meet is an accomplishment in of itself, as only Lark and eight other jumpers from the entirety of Division III competed. Lark proved that he was one of the best after he received All-American honors by finishing sixth in the triple jump with a mark of 48-1 3/4. It was just 3/4 inch shy of his school record and qualifying mark.
On top of being an All-American, Lark also received all-New England Division III honors in both the triple jump and long jump, where he placed fifth. He is the first indoor All-American for Wesleyan since Wes Fuhrman ’05 placed seventh in the 5k event during the 2006 meet as a grad student.
“I was nervous starting indoor track as I was not sure if I was going to be in shape and ready to compete, but I set a goal to be an All-American the first week of practice and did everything to accomplish it,” Lark said, who took a year off from track last year.
Throughout the season he worked with new jumps coach, Mark Winiarski, which proved to be a fruitful relationship. Although he was seeded seventh entering the meet, Lark knew he had to, “keep doing what I have been doing all season in order to reach my goal of being an All-American [top 8].”
To prepare for the nationals, Lark, treated the meet like any other, but knew that this was the one he had worked hard for all season. Lark dedicated his All-American honors his family.
Heading into the outdoor season, Lark hopes to go to nationals and place in the top five. The outdoor season for the Wesleyan track team started this weekend Saturday, March 19, as Wesleyan hosted the Spring Break Invitational against Hunter College. For the men’s team, there were only five entries in the meet.
Ernest Wingate ’14 grabbed top honors in both the 100m (11.56) and 200m (23.57) races. Jack Pacelle ’13 won the 400m event with a time of 52.19. Although, not all the distance runners competed in this meet, Matt Katz ’11 finished second in the 5k with a time of 16:31.61.
On the women’s side, Wesleyan entered 10 events and won nine of them. Kathryn Kulowski ’11 won the 100m (14.31) and Julia Frieze ’12 won the 400m (1:03.81). Ashley Swan ’13 also had a great day winning both the hammer (104-2) and the javelin (68-7) while placing second in the discus.
Next up for the team is a trip to Westfield St. on Saturday, March 26, where they will compete in the Jerry Gravel Classic.
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