Tufts Battles for Seventh at Nationals

(1/15/2013 6:23 PM) Full Results

This weekend, the Jumbos battled back from a tough race at Regoinals to finish 7th at the NCAA Championships in Terre Haute, Indiana. This marked the second consecutive top-10 finish for TUXC at Natoinals and the third-best finish in program history. Tufts tallied a score of 265 points, just six points behind Bates, the top New England team at the meet.

The Jumbos were paced by senior Kyle Marks, who moved up throughout the race to finish an impressive 37th in 25:06. Marks narrowly missed earning the first All-American honor of his career, awarded to the top 35 finishers in the race. Behind him, classmate and captain Matt Rand battled a lung infection to finish 48th in 25:17. Though Matt was unable to replicate his top 20 performance of last year, sickness could not prevent him from finishing as a key contributor for the Jumbos in his final collegiate cross-country race.

Next across the line was junior Andrew Shapero, who continued his string of clutch performances to finish third for the Jumbos in 25:36, good for 85th place overall. This was an improvement of over 60 places from the 2011 meet. Junior Ben Wallis, meanwhile, after an aggressive start which saw him within All-American range for the first three miles, held on to finish 92nd overall in 25:38 as the fourth scorer. Rounding out the top five for the Jumbos was senior Tyler Andrews, who finished 104th overall in 25:44.

The Jumbos look forward to indoor and outdoor track after one of the most successful cross country campaigns in program history. The momentum gathered during cross country will help propel them towards the regional and national championship meets indoors and outdoors.


Full Results