Soph Tandem Earns All-NESCAC Honors, Leads Jumbos to 5th Place
(11/5/2014 11:17 AM) Full ResultsWe traveled to Middlebury College for our annual conference meet on a chilly, softly drizzling Saturday. The course was soft at points, but overall conditions were set for a fast hard race and the field did not disappoint.
Tufts placed 5th out of the 11 teams, one notch ahead of where we were ranked heading in to the meet – bumping down Bates who was previously ranked 5th. Behind the NCAA-aiming quartet of champion Williams, runner-up Colby, host Middlebury, and Amherst, 5th place is strong but we look to improve upon our finish both at the ECAC and DIII New England championships in the next two weeks.
Leading the Jumbo way for the first time this season was sophomore Tim Nichols ‘17, crossing the line in 7th to earn All-NESCAC first team honors after notching a spot on the second-team in his freshman fall. Nichols passed the finish in 25:28.6, not only a remarkable time for the rolling hills of Middlebury but also just a few seconds off of his performance at Open New Englands, a markedly easier course. His classmate Luke O’Connor ’17 finished second for his Jumbos, also earning All-NESCAC honors by virtue of his 14th place run (25:42.1). Both ran smartly aggressive races, putting themselves in a good spot in the first mile and staying in the mix throughout the 8K.
As he has all season, senior co-captain Nicholas Guarnaccia ’15 again finished within the top scoring three for the Jumbos, placing 24th after recovering from sickness earlier in the week. Colin McCrory ’15 continued his stellar senior campaign with a 29th place finish, scoring low points for Tufts in his very first trip to the NESCAC cross-country meet. Greg Hardy ’15 rounded out the scoring five, running 26:26.4 to finish 41st and improve upon his 88th place performance last year. The quintet averaged a hair under 26:00 for the 8K, a really excellent aggregate time for the team to run on arguably the hardest collegiate course they will ever compete at.
Nipping right on the heels of Hardy was a trio of Jumbos, stampeding in all within 3 seconds of the senior – Michael Curley ’16, Ty Enos ’18, and Joseph St. Pierre ’15. Aside from team champion Williams, Tufts had the top 8th, 9th, and 10th man in the conference in St. Pierre, James Traester ’16, and co-captain Marshall Pagano ’15.
The Jumbos will next be in action at Stanley Park in Westfield, MA, where the second seven will compete at the ECAC championships on Saturday, November 8th. The gun goes off at 11 AM. See you there!
Full Results