Jumbos Take Another Step Forward at Purple Valley Classic

(9/30/2014 2:31 PM) Full Results

The Tufts Men’s Cross Country team met their first true test against stiff regional competition at the Purple Valley Classic Invitational at Williams College. The race featured 7 teams ranked in the top 10 in New England, and was a great opportunity for teams to preview the NCAA Regionals course. A tough course combined with unseasonably warm temperatures lead to slow times across the board, but Tufts came out with a strong team finish of 5th place, defeating last year’s regional runner up team Middlebury College and showing they have what it takes to compete with some of the top DIII teams in the country.

The Jumbos once again took a conservative approach to the first couple of miles in the race. The core pack of Tufts runners came through the first mile in a time of 5:29, slightly slower than their target pace and placed them in the middle of the pack. Despite the heat and the loud crowded race, they maintained their poise and steadily worked their way through the pack throughout the race. Sophomore Luke O’Connor once again had a strong race, with a powerful move through miles 3 and 4 that put him in the top ten. O’Connor was followed closely by senior Co-Captain Nick Guarnaccia and Sophomore Tim Nichols, who finished 21st and 22nd respectively, just missing out on one of the highly coveted Purple Valley Top-20 Finisher t-shirts. Both Guarnaccia and Nichols missed some or all of their 2014 track seasons and were disappointed with their races at Bowdoin, so this race showed positive progress for the two of them.

Tufts second pack of runners worked well together as they adjusted to the chaos of bigtime cross-country meets. For all of them, this was the first time that they have been asked to run in the varsity 7 in a large and competitive race, and they showed that they are up to the task. The group was led by seniors Colin McCrory and Co-Captain Marshall Pagano, with senior Greg Hardy not far behind. Sophomore Bobby McLaughlin undoubtedly had the performance of the meet, making a huge jump from his race at Bowdoin and his first appearance in the Tufts top 7. Despite resting Junior Michael Curley due to some calf tightness and having Sophomore James Traester coming off of a nasty stomach virus, Tufts had the 3rd fastest 7th runner in the race. With a strong and core group, there is certainly ground to be gained for the Jumbos as that pack gets more comfortable with racing and works to close the gap to the front group.

TUXC will get back to training with an off weekend this week, and make their return to racing on more familiar turf at the NEICAAA All-New England Cross Country Championships at Franklin Park in Boston on October 11th. Hope to see everyone there!



Full Results