Junior J.R. Cruz was somewhat of an afterthought during his freshman year as a cross country runner at Tufts.
This didn't sit well with Cruz, who had been a dominant athlete in high school, and so the youngster dedicated himself to regaining his lost star status. After a productive sophomore year, Cruz has finally blossomed into the number-one runner on a men's cross country team that once again expects to go to the National Championships.
Interestingly, Cruz had only planned on running track and field at Tufts, and joining the team took some convincing from coach Connie Putnam. Putnam told Cruz that cross country would put him in much better shape for the track seasons. Similarly, Cruz, the captain of his high school soccer team, only started running in high school because he was trying to stay fit for soccer.
While he was the tenth man on the team during his freshman year at Tufts, Cruz' real strength was as a middle-distance runner for the track team.
Cruz ran a two-minute 800 meters in his first track meet as a freshman. Though the time was impressive for a freshman, it was a tremendous letdown for a runner who had reached 1:57 in high school. During his senior year, Cruz was part of the 4x800 team that won the New York State Championships.
"I really struggled in track [my freshman year]," Cruz said. "I think I gained a lot of weight during freshman year. I stayed up late, didn't eat right. I got too lazy. I wasn't doing well, so I didn't care."
However, instead of giving up on running, Cruz used his disappointment as motivation. Rather than spending the summer lounging about, Cruz dedicated himself to a rigorous training regimen. He decided that to make cross country his number one priority, and by the end of the summer, he was running between 50 and 70 miles a week.
"The summer between freshman and sophomore year, I trained like crazy," Cruz said. "My goal was to be in the top ten [on the cross country team]. I ended up being top seven."
Despite his strong showing as a cross country runner during his sophomore year, when Cruz returned to the track he continued running middle distance. After a few races, Cruz decided to give up middle distance for good and focus on the 3K and the 10K. Last winter, he qualified for the ECACs and Div. III New England's in them, as well as Division I and Division II New England's in the 10K during the spring, a trend he hope will only improve.
"I think I can qualify for Nationals in the 10K [this year.]," he said.
But before Cruz starts thinking about track, he wants to finish up what has been a breakthrough cross country season. Cruz has finished first on the team in four of the six meets in which he has run. In the two races he didn't lead the Jumbos pack, he placed second behind senior Dave Patterson.
"I trained like crazy [during the summer]," Cruz said. "I started out at 70 miles per week and got up to about 90. So the way I have been racing is not a surprise, but it is nice."
With his success in races, Cruz has found himself in an unfamiliar position as a leader of the team. The leap is quite remarkable for Cruz, whose older teammates nicknamed him "Speechless" during his freshman year, because of his soft-spoken, seemingly aloof manner.
"I was really shy during freshman year," Cruz said. "I was going through the motions."
Surprisingly, Cruz has grown to enjoy his new leadership position. "I like playing a little leadership role," Cruz said. "If I can be a leader I have no problem with it."
Many of the leadership responsibilities that Cruz has taken on involve interacting with younger runners. In order to promote team unity, Cruz and other top runners try to get the team to hang out separate from practice, and encourage the younger runners to keep up with the more experienced runners during practice.
"I love the freshmen," Cruz said. "When I was a freshman, we never really hung out with the older guys. [This year's freshmen] feel really comfortable around us."
For the remainder of the cross country season, Cruz hopes to continue adding to his growing collection of impressive performances, and intends to use last week's knee injury, which forced him to miss NESCACs, as motivation.
"One of my goals this season was to be All-NESCAC, and I was really mad that I didn't run," Cruz said.
With his knee healed, Cruz has his sights set on the ECACs, to be held this weekend, the New England National Qualifiers, and Nationals.
"Obviously, to have the team qualify for Nationals is the number-one goal," Cruz said. "I want to be all ECAC. I want to win [ECACs] as a team and we want to improve on our ninth-place finish at Nationals last year."
