Men beat Williams, take second place

In the week leading up to its Jumbo Invitational at Grafton, the men's cross country team focused its attention on beating NESCAC rival Williams, a move which may have cost them first place in their meet on Saturday. The team narrowly defeated Williams but allowed unheralded Amherst to slip by them for the top spot in their tightest race of the year.

Amherst finished in first place with 57 points, edging out the Jumbos by a mere four points. Despite the setback, Tufts (61) still was impressive in beating Williams (62) by a lone point for second place.

Merely beating Williams was a feat considering that the Purple Cows' top two runners finished first and second overall in the meet. The Jumbos overcame this by placing their five runners in the top 20, an accomplishment that no other team could claim.

"That just expresses the depth of our team. Now we need our whole pack to move up a little bit," junior co-captain Jon Rosen said. "If we had done that, we would have won."

Sophomore Nate Brigham streaked to third place overall with a time of 26:33.29, while freshman Neil Orfield also finished in the top ten, sneaking in at ninth overall with a 27:09.90. Freshman Matt Lacey (27:21.31), Rosen (27:26.35), and junior Ian Joseph (27:35.94) rounded out Tufts' top five.

The team's depth was further illustrated by the fact that eight other Jumbos finished in the top forty overall, although their times didn't count.

Due to their ability to pack their top runners close together, the Jumbos average time of 27:13.36 was actually slightly better than Amherst's time of 27:14.22. But Amherst placed four runners in the top 11, which was too much for the Jumbos to surmount.

Rosen secured the team's second place finish when he passed a Williams runner over the final 100 meters, accounting for the one-point difference between the teams. Lacey also outlasted a Williams runner to the finish line by less than five seconds.

"To tell the truth," Lacey said, "I didn't even know he was behind me, or that it would have an outcome on the race. But it worked out OK."

Although the squad was happy with beating Williams, they second-guessed itself for not paying attention to Amherst during the race.

"I felt like if we ran hard against Williams, we would beat Amherst in the process," Coach Connie Putnam confessed. "But they ran a strong race, and we shouldn't have taken them too lightly."

By finishing ahead of Williams, the men's team will likely pass the Purple Cows in the regional rankings, but that doesn't rouse much excitement on the squad.

"We're not too worried about rankings," Rosen said. "Last year we were ranked high from the start and it was more of a burden than anything else."

For Putnam, the rankings have not been a factor in determining the team's strategy.

"I don't even know where we're ranked. I haven't even looked at that," Putnam said. "We're trying to be ready for November (NESCAC Championships and National Qualifiers). That's what matters."

While eschewing the rankings, the captains and coaches have constantly stressed improvement each time out, and that seems to be holding true.

"Everyone on the team is 25 seconds to a minute faster than their first time out," Putnam noted. "We're improving a lot, but we're not satisfied yet."

The team has no meet this weekend, and plans to use the bye week for an intense two week training cycle before returning to competition at the All-New England Championship on Oct. 11.