For the men's cross country team, 2004 should look a lot like 2003.
Still stacked with the same runners that carried them to NESCAC, ECAC, and New England titles last year, the Jumbos could be even better this year. In addition to their talent, they will rely on experience as they carry with them momentum from last year's record-setting regular season as well as motivation from their somewhat disappointing No. 11 place finish at Nationals.
"[We want to] do everything we did last year, and then go top -four at nationals," senior co-captain Nate Brigham said.
The Jumbos' highest finish ever at Nationals is seventh, but coach Connie Putnam agreed that that could change come November.
"I've been kind of hoping that we could break into the top five," he said. "We've been seventh, and last year we were eleventh on an awful day. We can do better."
They definitely can. Tufts returns 11 of its top 14 runners, including its top seven from last year's Div. III New Englands, and after seeing them run for the first time this year on Tuesday at Grafton Field, Putnam was impressed.
"A couple of kids went out and really did their homework this summer," Putnam said. "The summer has turned some people around, most notably Matt Fortin. He trained about twice as hard as he ever has, and he's in noticeably better shape."
Putnam hopes that juniors Fortin and Matt Lacey, who ran the most summer mileage on the squad, and sophomore Josh Kennedy, last year's NESCAC Rookie of the Year, can join Brigham to form a potent front pack for the Jumbos.
"What I'm hoping for is a densification of the group," Putnam said. "We want to be able to keep our delta tighter than last year; the time between your first guy and your fifth guy is so huge in Nationals."
Dedicated seniors Peter Bromka and co-captain Brian McNamara, and juniors Neil Orfield and Kyle Doran all ran at nationals last year and figure to play prominent roles again this season, and the Jumbos still have plenty of depth after them.
"Teams were after us last year and they'll still be after us, but the bottom line is that we return more talent than any other team," Brigham said. "I'm not trying to be cocky, but we're better than every other team [in New England] and there's no reason any one else should beat us."
Right now, the only bad news is that senior Mike Don has mononucleosis, and his status and stamina are uncertain for several weeks.
"That's a little bit of a kick in the teeth to lose a strong, talented senior like him," Putnam said. "But I think everyone's ready to work even harder than last year, with even more direction and focus," Putnam said. "I'm glad they're a tiny bit irritated [about last year's Nationals], and I'm looking forward to the season."
So far, the Jumbos have enjoyed two team traditions: a successful preseason camp in Bridgton, Maine last week and its annual Alumni Race this past weekend. Although the times at the race were slower than last year's, McNamara thought the tired legs were from working so hard over the summer.
"I feel like the training over the summer is going to prepare us to run well in November," McNamara said. "We're going to be running our best when we need to."
At this point though, it's all about sustaining the hard work and excitement.
"The returnees are all in really good shape, the freshmen look good, and we can't wait until the meets start to count," Brigham said. "We look at it as though we didn't have our best day last year. We definitely had the potential last year, but we didn't have our best day. It boils down to us getting up on stage at Nationals and holding up a [top-four] plaque. It's been a knock on the program and I think we're ready to make that leap."
