Cross country builds most successful season ever

The question for the 2004 men's cross country team will be, can you top last year? Thanks to the 2003 squad, it will be tough to do so, although next year's set of Jumbos, which will be virtually the same as this year's, will certainly have a shot.

However, this year's team was so good that it really only left room for improvement in one major race next year -- nationals.

A late season stretch that saw the team capture four consecutive races, three of them championship meets, on their way to finishing eleventh in the nation earned Tufts its best regular season ever.

"I would have to say that this is [the most successful team I've had]," coach Connie Putnam said. "The fact that we fell back at nationals doesn't take away from the rest of the season."

The Jumbos hurdled every barrier in their path in earning the right to call themselves the best Division III team in New England. The Jumbos overcame bizarre injuries and beat Keene State, which they were unable to do earlier in the season at the Jumbo Invitational, and won their first ever NESCAC championship and New England title.

Along the way, the squad also threw in an ECAC championship, a victory at the Twin Brook Invitational, and a top ten finish (first out of Division III schools) at the All-New England Championship.

For the Jumbos, all this followed a September chock full of second place finishes, two by a single point, while racing at half strength.

"We spent September splitting the squad and not believing we could win at half strength," senior co-captain Peter Bromka said. "But it paid off exactly how we wanted it to later in the season, and next year we want to win those early season meets because we should be able to do that."

Bromka's coach also shared his sentiments on the delayed success of the early season lineup shuffling.

"I'm pleased with the way the plan worked," Putnam said. "It takes time to figure out who's going to step up over the season."

Among those who did step up were NESCAC Rookie of the Year Josh Kennedy, who joined junior Nate Brigham as a bona fide front runner, junior Brian McNamara, who successfully recovered from an injury that wiped out his 2002 season, and sophomore Kyle Doran, who finished third or better on the team seven times after doing so just once his freshman year.

On the flip side, sophomore Matt Lacey began the season strong but faded from overtraining before recovering to finish fourth overall in his final race, ECAC's.

"We let him carry his mileage too far into the season," Putnam admitted. "He had the appearance of Superman and then he went stale all of a sudden. But I can't fault Matt for working too hard, knowing what the team had in mind this season."

Both Putnam and Lacey were confident the same problem would not occur again next year.

"For next season I know what my limits are," Lacey said. "I won't go nuts the first two weeks of the season trying to race Nate stride for stride. I know what my body can handle; I'm smarter now."

His roommate, Doran, will try to go in the opposite direction with his training.

"I didn't work as hard as I should have over the summer," Doran said. "It's a long season so I knew once I got into my training I would take off, and I did. But I can see now if I want to get to that next level I have to dig in earlier."

The Jumbos will have to dig in next year, as they will take on the role of favorite in New England. They will do so minus seniors Peter Jurczynski, James "Slams" Lamoureux, Dave Hennessy, Zach Chrisco, Matt Theodoros, and co-captain Jon Rosen, all of whom Putnam said will be missed.

"Their maturity was unbelievable. You miss seniors whether or not they run in the top seven," he said. "This is the kind of group of seniors you wish you didn't have to lose."

Putnam won't be losing all of his seniors, however, as Bromka and fellow classmate Ian Joseph will return in the fall to take advantage of one last semester of eligibility.

It should be a good final semester for them, as the squad returns all eight runners who were on the roster for nationals, as well as a group of fast-improving freshmen and junior Mike Don, who has been in and out of the top seven his entire career and will no doubt be competing for a spot there in the fall.

That talent, combined with an added year of championship experience, should have the Jumbos sitting high in New England again next year and looking to improve on this year's lackluster performance at nationals, which Putnam thought was due partially to drained emotions.

"I think this team really took a major stride forward," Putnam said. "Getting wins at NESCAC's and regionals is a great accomplishment. It's too bad some people will remember what we did most recently. I was not happy with that race after the season we had."

"Nationals was kind of hallow for us," Bromka admitted. "But we had so many successes this year that we know we're doing things the right way. Coach has a theory that until you actually win NESCAC's or regionals, you may think that you can, but you don't actually know you can do it," Bromka said. "Now we know we can, and we plan to again next year."