Jumbos Take Fifth, Kennedy All American

(11/19/2005) See more Photos     Full Results

Coming off of their third straight New England Regional title, the Jumbos headed into the 2005 NCAA DIII championship race with high hopes of a top four finish and the chance to bring home some serious hardware. The team ended up placing 5th, some 80 points shy of a podium finish but still the best Nationals finish in the program?s history.

Junior Josh Kennedy led the way with his 22nd place finish, earning All American honors for the second year in a row. Junior Justin Chung was next for the Jumbos, with a solid 72nd place in his first national championship race. Next came Senior co-captain Matt Fortin in 81st place, using his typical strong kick to pass several runners in the last 400m including sophomore Christopher Kantos who finished 83rd. Senior co-captain Matt Lacey had an off day and struggled after the second mile, but held on to finish with the Tufts pack in 88th place. Seniors Kyle Doran and Neil Orfield rounded out the top 7 with 127th and 176th place finishes respectively.

Overall the season was a successful one for the Jumbos as the team repeated as NESCAC and New England champions. Additionally, the 5th place finish at Nationals was the highest the team has ever finished, surpassing last year?s 6th place. Next year?s team will lose seniors Matt Lacey, Matt Fortin, Kyle Doran, and Neil Orfield to graduation. The team will look to the underclassmen to step up and fill in the varsity spots as they do every year, and will also hope to bring in some talented freshmen to strengthen the squad.

Thanks go out to the Crazies who once again showed New England and the whole nation which team has the best fans, to the parents who cheered at meets and supplied us with food and Gatorade, and to the training staff that got our runners sidelined with injuries back on their feet. Last but not least a big thank you to Ethan Barron and Rod Hemingway. You guys made the transition to new leadership as smooth as possible for the team and picked up right where Connie left off.


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