Pack Running and PRs at Conn College

(9/10/2005) See more Photos     Full Results

With the major championships races still two months away, the Jumbos were instructed to use the Connecticut College Invitational as an exercise in pack running. The top crew was asked to stick together and run at about 5:30 pace for the first three miles. They did this flawlessly for the first two miles of the race, running 5:29 and 5:31. At this point the top group of Matt Lacey, Justin Chung, Neil Orfield, Kyle Doran, Matt Fortin, and Brendan McNeish were all running together in a tight pack. Then Lacey and Chung got a bit impatient being so far back in the field and started to pick up the pace at the 2 mile mark. They put 30 meters on the rest of the team in the next mile. Orfield, Doran, Fortin, and McNeish continued to run easily through 4 miles before dropping the pace in the last mile. Lacey, feeling fresh off the easy early pace, was able to hammer the last mile and finish 14 seconds ahead of Chung in 25:47. Chung Doran, and Orfield finished within 10 seconds of each other running 26:01, 26:02 and 26:08. Fortin was only a few seconds behind in 26:16 after getting boxed in on the marsh loop where the course narrowed. McNeish ended up falling back a bit in the final portion of the race, but still finished a very respectable 26:45 in his first collegiate 8k.

Dave Sorensen ran a huge PR with a time if 26:53. Other runners with big PRs were Tim Churella in 28:50 and Anyenda Inyagwa in 27:28.

Josh Kennedy and Christopher Kantos sat out the race as they were both sore after the intense workouts of the previous week.

The results of the team race were that Tufts finished in 5th place. But the weekend was a success due the execution of pack running that the entire team displayed and the ease with which they were able to pass other runners in the last 2 miles of the race. Though disappointed with the individual and team placing, the team realizes that now is the time to practice the tactics which will payoff in the big races in October and November.

The team will be racing at the UMass Dartmouth Invitational next week.



See more Photos   Full Results