The men's cross country team finished a respectable 12th out of 42 teams in Friday's New England Invitational at Franklin Park, which featured several top Division I and II teams. Tufts placed third behind Keene State and Williams among the Division III competition.
The success was a relief for the Jumbos, who ran their worst race of the season last week without the services of the number four runner, junior Jason Mann. On Friday, Mann was back in uniform, albeit with a cast on his right arm due to a broken wrist. While not at the top of his game, Mann's return sparked the team's success.
"The biggest thing with the cast is that it disrupts his balance," coach Connie Putnam said.
Mann, who usually rounds out the Jumbo top four, finished a somewhat disappointing fifth (26.38 and 117th overall) behind upstart freshman James Lamoureux, who ran the best race of his young collegiate career (26.36 and 115th overall).
"It was a recovery race [for Mann]," Putnam said. "It was an amazing performance you look closely at it, even though [on paper] it looks bad."
"He ran hard," senior co-captain Dave Patterson said. "I'm glad he didn't get injured again. In a race like that he came out with a decent time. I know he is not happy [with his time] but I know he is going to work hard to get right back into the thick of things."
Although Mann made a courageous return to competition, the story of the day was Lamoureux. For the past month the youngster has struggled to adjust from the 5K races which he ran in high school to the 8K college race. On Friday, the freshman finally came of age.
"Lamoureux ran awesome," senior co-captain Adrian Wilairat said. "This is evidence that James Lamoureux has arrived. Everyone was waiting for him to run that race."
Interestingly, Mann led Lamoureux for much of the race before Lamoureux kicked into a higher gear towards the end of the course and Mann fell back slightly because of his injury.
"Mann lead Lamoureux for a long time but was struggling with the circumstances," Putnam said. "Lamoureux made something good happen."
Most importantly for the Jumbos is that the delta between the 4th and 5th runners and the 3rd and 4th runners is shrinking. Last week, with Mann sitting out, Lamoureux finished 4th on the team, crossing the line one minute and 11 seconds behind junior Ben Smith. On Friday, Lamoureux finished 45 seconds after Smith, who finished 3rd (25:53 and 65th overall).
While Tufts still needs to further reduce the gap, Lamoureux's emergence and Mann's comeback and expected return to form bode well for upcoming meets.
"Our fifth man really came through for us," Patterson said. "I think that [our fifth man] is going to help us throughout the rest of the year."
With Mann's comeback and Lamoureux's surge, junior J.R. Cruz, who finished 1st on the team (25:10 and 21st overall), and Patterson, who placed 2nd on the team (25:33 and 36th overall), did not turn as many heads despite running well.
"We are beginning to take Cruz's performance for granted," Putnam said. "The top three runners were steady."
The meet was a struggle for many of the Division III runners who are not used to taking a race out at such a fast pace. The leader, Keith Kelly from Providence, averaged 4:48 per mile and ran an opening mile of 4:32.
"Most of the guys were under five minutes for the first mile," Putnam said. "You're damned if you do [go out fast] and damned if you don't."
"This was the hardest I have run in a race this season," Wilairat said. "We were pushing it. I could feel the intensity during the race."
While the race was particularly grueling, the Jumbos were pleased to run against Div. I and II opponents, since it provided the team with the opportunity to compete against talent similar to what it will face at the New England Regional meet and at Division III Nationals at the end of the season.
"The race is difficult but useful because it very much mimics the national race [in terms of the level of competition and the pace of the race]," Putnam said.
For the first time all season, the Jumbos will have a break, as they do not have a meet this coming weekend. The time off will give the team an opportunity to heal and prepare for the upcoming NESCAC Championships on Oct. 28 at Amherst.
"We always gear up for NESCACs a little bit," Wilairat said. "Williams is our number one rival and they are very strong this year. We'd like to give Williams a run for the title."
The Jumbos also expect Trinity, Bates and Bowdoin to be formidable competitors.
