Putting their entire lineup into a race for the first time this season, the Jumbos dispelled any questions about their team's strength, decisively taking their final home meet - the Jumbo Invitational - at Grafton on Saturday.
Nearly as significant as the victory was Tufts' ability to defeat conference rival and arch-nemesis Williams, which has handled the Jumbos for years. "We've had them in our sights for a long time but just haven't been able to get a foothold against them," coach Connie Putnam said. "There were definite frustrations on our team for never beating them."
In its final home race, the full Jumbo lineup overcame its past frustrations against Williams and accomplished a milestone for Putnam's cross-country program.
Tufts was able to pull off the victory despite nagging injuries to sophomore James Lamoureaux and a slower-than-normal performance from senior co-captain J.R Cruz. Without large point contributions from two of their strongest runners, the Jumbos relied on the younger runners to assist with the scoring. Tufts had 31 total points, significantly better than Williams' 48.
The team ran well together as a pack, accomplishing its goal of staying together at a steady pace throughout the run. "We wanted to go out conservatively and not go all out on our first mile," Cruz said. "That's always the strategy at Grafton because otherwise that first mile will kill you."
Despite staying conservative in their running style, most of Tufts' participants improved their times on the Grafton course from an earlier race at the beginning of the season. Seven of the team's runners finished in the top 15 and the Jumbos were successful in running as a group.
Senior co-captain Ben Smith led his team, running to a second place finish in 26:20.08. "Ben ran an amazing race," Cruz said. "He really looked strong out there."
Closely following Smith was freshman Nate Brigham, who passed Cruz late in the race to finish in fourth place. Senior Jason Mann offered another standout performance, finishing in ninth place with a time of 26:58.2, and proving to his coach that he has recovered from hernia surgery last spring. After a slow start to the season, Mann demonstrated that he is back to his top form.
"He showed he's back," Putnam said. "That's no surprise to me because he's one of the toughest kids I've ever coached."
At this point in the season, the Jumbos have surpassed expectations. The co-captains credit the team's success to the coach's new training program, which they say gives a longer rest between races. "Every single one of those guys feels healthier now than they did last year at this point," assistant coach Pete Loeb said.
Throughout the season, Tufts has split its team into two groups - "the Tusks" and "the Trunks" - running only one group per race while giving the other group a weekend of rest. The Jumbo Invitational was the first event in which the team ran as a whole.
Entering a two-week period of training, Tufts will be running back-to-back races for the first time this season to prepare for back-to-back postseason races. Running the entire roster not only demonstrated depth in the Jumbos' lineup, but it also gave many of the younger runners a chance to compete against the stronger runners for spots on the higher team.
At the Jumbo Invitational, many younger runners, such as freshmen Yee-Huang Chen (27:39.3) and Aaron Kaye (27:44.6), proved that they are ready to compete against stronger competition by challenging the more seasoned runners. "A shake-up like this was good for us," Putnam said. "To have people moving back and forth within groups is the nature of competition."
The Jumbos will again place their entire lineup in a race on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Williams in the Fall Foliage Frolic. But this time, the team won't be looking to win the race, but instead use the event as a tempo run to help younger guys keep up their pace.
Tufts is also looking ahead to the All-New England's, which will take place in two weeks. The Jumbos have never placed higher than tenth at this meet, but Putnam said he hopes that this time around his team will grab a spot in the top ten and set another milestone. "We aren't thinking about beating other teams this time," Putnam said. "We just want to take our place in the top ten New England programs."
