Big Step Forward for Jumbos at Open NEs

(10/10/2009) See more Photos     Full Results

It was an amazingly successful homecoming weekend for Tufts this past Saturday. The football team won in overtime, and the women's soccer, field hockey, and volleyball teams all shut out Colby. In addition, the men's and women's XC teams continued to build toward their end-of-season goals at the NEICAAA Championships at Franklin Park. Yes, this weekend had the title of being a championship meet; however, it was also only the Jumbos' second 8k of the new season -- a season that will not hit its full stride for another few weeks at the NESCAC and New England Championships.

This weekend, the TUXC program as a whole demonstrated that it has taken a great step forward from just a year ago. Both the Varsity and Sub-Varsity teams improved on last year's showings in both time and score. Even more impressive is that the varsity squad did so without senior captain Nick Welch, who was resting this weekend.

The Jumbos were led again by senior Jesse Faller and his 19th place finish. Faller opened up the race with a 4:42 first mile with the lead pack and maintained his position over the 5 mile race. He crossed the line as the 3rd DIII finisher, seconds behind Edgar Kosgey of Williams and Paul Norton of Brandeis. With the absence of the teams regular #2, there was a sizeable gap between Faller an the next Tufts finisher.

Matt Rand (Fr), Jeff Ragazzini (Jr), and Ryan Lena (Sr) all crossed the line approximately 60 seconds after Faller in a tight pack clocking in at 26:14, 26:16, and 26:17 repsectively. The trio were all within the top 35 Division III runners this weekend. Rounding out the Jumbos scoring five was freshmen Kyle Marks, who fought home in a time of 26:53. When the points were tallied, the Jumbos improved a mere 6 points from last years showing; however, without Welch's presence, the 6 points were a great step forward. To add perspective, the three athletes who Welch outkicked 2 weeks prior finished 27th, 40th, and 43rd respectively.

Possibly overshadowing the strong performances of the varsity seven, the Jumbos sub-varsity squad dominated their showing from a year ago. In 2008, the Jumbos had a mere three competitors from their 2nd squad break the 28:00 barrier. This fall, the team suited up ten athletes to get under the mark. Most impressive, was the showing of sophomore Scott McArthur. McArthur knocked 2:21 seconds off of his Franklin Park performance from last season. He led the Jumbo second string with a 26:35 and was the 4th fastest DIII competitor in the race. Following McArthur was the stampede of Jumbos that had 9 teammates crossing the line between 27:04 and 28:00.

This weekend's crisp weather made for ideal racing conditions. However, Saturday's weather combined with the strong competition and cheering fans could not fully overpower a somewhat soft and muddy Franklin Park course. The mud and softness was compounded by some minor changes to the course adding an additional 15-20m.

All in all, this was not the best weekend for fast times on the Franklin Park course. This fact is slightly hidden by the stellar winning performance from Glarius Rop of AIC. That said, it was a great weekend for the Jumbos, who feel that they still have much more to give. With three weeks of training left until the NESCAC Championships, the TUXC squad looks to tune up start to hit their full stride. Next weekend, Tufts will head west to Williamstown, MA, for the Plansky Invitational hosted by Williams College.



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