TUXC 9th at Nationals

(11/19/2011 9:03 PM) See more Photos    

The top five runners on the Tufts men's cross country team all ran personal-record times to earn a ninth-place finish of 32 teams at the NCAA Championship on Saturday. Number one ranked North Central College (IL) won the team title by placing all five scorers in the top 60 to accumulate 110 points. Defending champion Haverford (PA) settled for the runner-up spot this year with 172 points. Washington University (MO), SUNY Geneseo, and host Wisconsin-Oshkosh rounded out the top five.

Among New England teams, the Jumbos placed third. Williams placed sixth with 278 points, while Bates finished seventh with 294 points. The Jumbos accumulated 329 points, 25 behind eighth-place St. Lawrence (NY). Dickinson College (PA) rounded out the top ten with 341 points.

The course at Lake Breeze Golf Club was flat and wide with great footing. The rain held off on race day to allow for extremely fast racing conditions. It was easily the fastest course the Jumbos had raced on all season. Leading the way for the Jumbos was junior Matt Rand. He placed 19th overall with a 19-second personal-record time of 24:36 to earn All-American honors. Only the top 35 finishers garner the distinction. It is Rand's first cross country All-American award and the second overall in his collegiate career.

Next across the line for Tufts was junior Kyle Marks. Marks's time of 25:06 was a nine-second personal-best and good enough for 71st overall. Sophomore Brian McLaughlin was the third Jumbo to finish. He clocked an eight-second personal-best time of 25:15 to place 95th overall.

Closing the scoring for the Jumbos were sophomores Liam Cassidy and Andrew Shapero. Cassidy recorded a 23-second personal best time of 25:17 to place 101st overall, while Shapero placed 153rd with a nine-second personal best time of 25:37. Rounding out the championship squad for Tufts were senior Connor Rose and sophomore Ben Wallis. Rose capped off his collegiate cross country career with a time of 25:43, good enough for 170th overall. Wallis, still gaining strength from a mid-season injury, was able to finish in 208th place with a time of 26:00.

The Jumbos went into the National Championships and executed their race plan well. Knowing that they needed to put three runners in the top 100 overall to secure themselves a top 15 finish and put them in contention for top 10, they did exactly that. At the halfway point the Jumbos sat with Rand in the fron pack and the trio of Marks, McLaughlin, and Cassidy sitting in the mid 80's. Fully invested and knowing they were where they needed to be to accomplish their goal, Shapero, Rose, and Wallis battled to slam the door for the TUXC squad.

Coming into the weekend, the squad had the goal of averaging 100th overall for the top 5. This would put them well within the top 15 teams in every year since the expansion. After crossing the line with a sub-88th place average, all they had left to do was see how far up they finished. The NCAA Championship caps off an up-and-down season for the Jumbos. Fortunately, the 2011 campaign ended on a very high note.

This weekends 9th place finish was the Jumbos 5th time inside the top 10 in last 15 years. A solid number for any program. With all five scorers and six of the top seven runners returning in 2012, the future Jumbos look to improve on that average.


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