The new men's cross country training program went into effect this weekend at the Hayseed Classic in a home race at Tufts' veterinary campus in Grafton. For the first time, coach Connie Putman used a split squad that rested strong runners in seniors J.R Cruz, Ben Smith, Jason Mann, and Justin Lewis and gave a chance to some more inexperienced runners. The Jumbos were still able to pull off a fourth place finish at the meet.
"The point of creating two squads isn't to say that one is better than the other," senior David Hennessey said. "Instead it lets us field a team that can compete to win every meet while still resting others."
The Hayseed Classic is traditionally a low-key meet, as teams are still finalizing their top seven in preparation for the later, more competitive meets.
Freshman Aaron Kaye was the Jumbos' top racer with an 11th place finish and a time of 28:53.9. Behind him was classmate Ryan Phill and sophomore James Lamoureaux, who finished 17th and 21st (29:04.0, 29:15.4), respectively.
The squad ran well, staying in a pack just as the team had plotted, though the lack of a standout runner to finish at the front of the race and gain extra points prevented a higher team finish. On a hot day with many runners competing in their first collegiate 8K race, the runners say they were satisfied with the results.
"We were trying to bunch people together during this meet and we did that really well," Kaye said.
Without a standout athlete on the team like the graduated David Patterson ('01), Tufts will need its front line to improve throughout the season so that the entire pack moves towards the top. "We're really looking for a group of strong contenders to compete and no one person specifically," Kaye said.
Not only was their ability to run in a pack a positive sign, but the Jumbos saw improvements in their running times from the previous weekend's alumni race, a preseason scrimmage. "We would have liked to have done better, but overall we're happy with how we did," Kaye said.
This was the first week that the Jumbos put the split squad plan into effect While the success of the program will not be judged until the postseason, team members say they support the new strategy. "It seems more manageable with a smaller group," Kaye said. "Especially as a freshman, having a smaller group is nice and more intimate."
The runners from the Hayseed Classic will have more recovery time before they begin training for their next race, scheduled for Sat. Sept 22.
"Resting one squad is going to be more beneficial in the long run than winning an early season race which really has no bearing on how things end up," Hennessy said.
This weekend, the Jumbos will send their second squad to the field at Dartmouth for a race with much stronger competition like Dartmouth and Keene State. Despite the higher caliber of competition, the Jumbos have high hopes for their finishes.
But Hennessey said he expects tough competition. "We're going to have our hands full," he said.
