Jumbos looking to advance to Nationals

A return to the National Championship Race will be on the line for the men's cross country team when they race in the NCAA New England Championship at Southern Maine at noon tomorrow.

"It's been two years since we went to Nationals," junior Nate Brigham said. "We raced badly then, so we want to get back and redeem ourselves. We took our one year hiatus, and now we're ready to return and do some damage."

In order to qualify for the National Championship Race, which will be held November 22nd in Hanover, Indiana, Tufts will have to finish in fourth place or better tomorrow. Last year, Tufts missed the cut with a sixth place finish out of 35 teams, while in 2001 the squad made the nationals only to finish 23rd out of 24 teams.

There is no reason to think the Jumbos won't qualify this year, as they have not finished lower than third in a race the entire season, with the exception of a ninth place finish at the All-New England Championship. However, they actually finished first out of all the Division-III competitors at the meet. For Tufts not to make nationals, four other D-III schools would have to slip in front of them tomorrow.

Still, the squad is not taking the competition lightly.

"We're not out of the woods with teams like Amherst and Williams," senior co-captain Peter Bromka said. "We beat them at NESCAC's so they'll be ready."

While the most important thing for the Jumbos is to hold off those teams and qualify, they also want to win.

"We figure if we aim to win, we'll at least qualify," Bromka said. "We don't want to set the bar too low."

The battle for the New England title seems likely to come down to the Jumbos and the Keene State Owls.

The Owls defeated the Jumbos in a head to head full-strength matchup on September 27th at the Jumbo Invitational, but Putnam's squad seems to be peaking at the right time. The squad opened the season by finishing as the bridesmaid in its first four races and third in its next race, but since then, the Jumbos finished as the number one D-III team at All-New England's and then captured first place in three consecutive races, including NESCAC's and ECAC's the last two weekends.

"We've been doing great," Bromka said. "We're well rested and healthy and ready to go."

Barring injury, Brigham, freshman Josh Kennedy, Bromka, junior Brian McNamara, and sophomores Kyle Doran, Neil Orfield, and Matt Fortin will represent Tufts. Kennedy was named NESCAC Rookie of the Year and a first team All-NESCAC selection, while Brigham, McNamara, Orfield, and Doran were second team selections.

Fortin, who transferred from RIT this year, was hampered by an early season injury and has yet to garner a top five finish on the team this year. But he has completely recovered and put on a strong performance at NESCAC's.

"I've got my miles and my training back up," Fortin said. "Everything feels good again and I'm ready to go."

As an additional benefit, Fortin is from Maine and has raced on the course several times in high school.

"I ran there several times during high school, so I know the twists and turns," he said.

"Matt's definitely a guy we want running this race," Bromka added.

However, Fortin is not the only Jumbo who has trekked the course before; the entire squad ran on it when they captured the Twin Brook Invitational on October 18th. Despite Tufts' win, its primary goal that day was getting a feel for the course.

"Coach had us run conservatively when we went up there, and we felt uncertain but looking back it was a smart decision," Bromka said. "Now we feel like we can give more this time, rather than feeling like the course has already gotten the best of us."

The Jumbos on the racing roster will go up to Maine Friday and stay in a hotel, while the rest of the team will drive up Saturday morning, ready to break out the body paint.

"I'm excited and nervous," Kennedy said. "I just want to get out there with the guys and do it."