Jumbos Open Season at Trinity Invite

(9/6/2008) Full Results

It was another unseasonably hot and humid day in Medford, MA, but even more so in Manchester, CT where the Tufts Jumbos took on several New England region rivals including the host school Trinity College as temperatures in Wickham Park reached the mid-80s. Overall, Tufts put forth an excellent first effort against a competitive field.

Leading the way in the blue and brown was junior Jesse Faller, covering the exceptionally challenging 5150-meter course in 16:41, good for 4th place behind two Trinity Bantams and one Keene State runner. Division II schools Stonehill and UMass Lowell took 8 of the next 10 spots, followed by a close trio of Tufts runners: junior co-captain Nick Welch and sophomores Jerzy Eisenberg-Guyot and Jeff Ragazzini crossed in times of 16:55, 17:00, and 17:02 for 15th, 17th and 18th respectively. Finishing in the final scoring position was junior Ryan Lena in 17:15, good for 26th overall. The remaining two spots in the top 7 were sophomore Chris Brunnquell and junior Peter Browne (accidentally listed as Greg Pallotta) in 35th and 48th with times of 17:23 and 17:46. Not far behind was top freshman Connor Rose in 17:59 for 51st, and rounding out the top 10 were junior Billy Hale and senior co-captain David Tilton just a place apart in 54th and 55th.

At the end of the day, it was UMass Lowell who came away with the victory with their top 5 runners sweeping places 8 through 12. Trinity College finished second on their home course, followed by Keene State in third and Tufts in fourth out of a total of 11 teams. Regardless of placing, the Trinity Invite was again an exciting jumping-off point for the 2008 regular season. The Jumbos will split their squad between a 5k and 8k course at Grafton next weekend at the annual Jumbo Invitational, which will mark the first full distance course of the year. Friends and family of the team are all invited to stay for another marvelous post-race barbeque. And this time, we promise to remember the ketchup.



Full Results