Six Jumbos break 26:00 at Franklin Park as depth leads men to all-time team performance

(10/14/2013 3:41 PM) See more Photos     Full Results

The Jumbos raced at the 101st Open New England Championships this weekend, returning to Franklin Park in Boston after a year’s hiatus in 2012 when the meet was moved to Westfield State. The men came in ranked 30th in the country, but upset #4 MIT en route to an 8th place finish out of 41 teams, third for Division III teams behind Middlebury and Bates.

Ben Wallis ’14 paced the men, finishing 33rd out of 279 competitors and running a course PR of 25:14, 20 seconds faster than his previous best at Franklin. Classmate Andrew Shapero came in just two seconds behind, holding a remarkably consistent pace during the race and picking runners off throughout the entire second half. This consistency is becoming second nature for Shapero. Jamie Norton ’14 and Nicholas Guarnaccia ’15 were also able to find each other at the end of the race, crossing the finish one place apart with times of 25:44 and 25:45, respectively. They each posted PRs of over a minute on this course.

Rookies Tim Nichols and Luke O’Connor continued their impressive freshmen campaigns with a pair of top-80 finishes; only a handful of freshmen placed higher than either. Nichols ran the same time as Guarnaccia, which puts him just two seconds away from Josh Kennedy’s freshman time of 25:43 in 2003, which is the fastest time ever run by a Tufts freshman at this course. If Tim and Luke remain this poised in big-time meets, missing out on that record will be overshadowed by what the Jumbos can accomplish as a group. The average time of the top five men (25:33) was the fastest in Coach Barron’s 9-year tenure, and the fastest since the NEICAAA started recording online results in 2000.

The vast majority of the team set a PR for this course as well. Juniors and Seniors Brian McLaughlin ’14, Liam Cassidy ’14, Benji Hansen ’14, Marshall Pagano ’15, Greg Hardy ’15, Bobby McShane ’14, Colin McCrory ’15, Joe Poupard ’15, and Joe St. Pierre ’15 all improved on their previous performances by anywhere from 19 seconds all the way to three and a half minutes (McCrory). Rookie Michael Caughron and sophomore James Traester also ran particularly impressive races in their first time at the storied Franklin Park course.

The Jumbos will be back in action this Saturday at the Conn College Invite, with the women running at 11 AM and the men at Noon. Tufts will be resting a large contingent of the squad in preparation for the championship season in November, although we will be welcoming the mid-distance track runners for their first and only cross-country 8K this season. Go Jumbos!


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