Faller and Welch Lead Jumbos to 4th in Conference

(11/1/2008) Full Results

A crisp November morning marked the start of the championship season for TUXC. A squad of twelve Jumbos toed the line against the ten other teams from the NESCAC on Saturday at the Pineland Farms course near Bates College in southern Maine.

After an open-field start, the course traced several loops through mostly back backwoods. Rolling hills and muddy turns made the course tougher for the large field of 119, but the Jumbos persevered and ran gutsy races across the board. Junior Jesse Faller placed 3rd with a time of 25:43 for the 8km race. Co-captain Nick Welch crossed the line just a few moments later in 26:07, placing 7th. The two earned All-NESCAC honors for their outstanding performances. Junior Ryan Lena finished 19th in 26:27 for an impressive PR.

Following these three juniors were four sophomores to fill the top seven spots for TUXC. Jerzy Eisenberg-Guyot clocked 27:17, followed shortly by Jeff Ragazzini in 27:26, and by Chris Brunnquell in 27:36. Andrew Bellet stepped up to run an impressive breakout race on the difficult course to place seventh for the Jumbos, finishing in 27:53. Three freshman finished next, including Henry Frey, Connor Rose and Phillip Grannan. All three gained valuable experience in their debut championship race and will race again this weekend at the ECAC championship. Senior David Tilton and Junior Billy Hale rounded out the top 12 for the Jumbos, posting impressive race times.

As a whole, Tufts placed 4th, improving on the 5th place conference finish last year. With a strong top seven, composed of only juniors and sophomores, TUXC looks to make an even stronger showing one year from now. The second seven Jumbos look toward ECAC


Full Results