Tufts Places Fourth at Conn. College Invite

(9/11/2004) See more Photos     Full Results

The Tufts University Men's Cross Country team placed fourth at the Connecticut College Invitational on Saturday. Using their patented strategy of racing and resting victory was sacrificed, but a message was still sent. Despite resting half of last year's varsity eight and many others a strong performance was expected. The team responded by taking four of the top twelve places. Sophomore Joshua Kennedy led the way placing fourth overall in a time of 25:38. On his heels was junior Matt Fortin placing sixth in a time of 25:45. Super-senior Peter Bromka (26:03) and senior captain Brian McNamara (26:04) placed 11th and 12th respectively, keeping the top four jumbo's delta under 30 seconds. Rounding out the top five was sophomore Peter Goransson (77th, 27:48) who scored for the first time in his Tufts career.

During the race Kennedy and McNamara immediately went to the front while Fortin and Bromka waited to make their respective moves. Goransson and freshman David Bach tried to keep pace with the top group, but ended up finding their own niche in the next group of the race. As the pace quickened, Fortin began to move up on Kennedy while McNamara began to head back towards Bromka. The two duos (Kennedy and Fortin & Bromka and McNamara) closed fast and maintained position as Southern Connecticut, NYU, and the College of New Jersey made their moves. As the race finished there was only one question in the minds of spectators along the course. Who would win the kicking duel between Bromka and McNamara? McNamara seemed to have victory in hand as his move with just over 200 meters remaining seemed just too quick for the aging Bromka. However, the New England Division III 10k champion would not go quietly. Bromka made one last surge heading towards the final turn and was able to retake McNamara. When asked about the final moments of the race McNamara answered, "I can't believe he passed me back." Bromka replied confidently, " I wasn't going to let you get me two years in a row." Senior co-captain Nate Brigham was then quoted saying, "go back to middle school."

Saturday's race featured competition not normally on Tufts schedule. Atlantic and Mid-East division three powerhouses the College of New Jersey (85) and New York University (92) placed second and third respectively, while division two Southern Connecticut State (68) won easily. Tufts finished with 97 points narrowly missing third place. Given the number of resting athletes on the team, the jumbos are confident a full squad would have garnered different results.

Written by Nate Brigham, Class of 2005


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