Men's Cross Country
Despite sitting out its top seven runners, the men's cross country team finished third out of seven teams at Saturday's Keene State Invitational, featuring strong performances by the up-and-coming members of the team.
Tufts finished with 97 points, behind the winner, Div. I Dartmouth (28), and host Keene St. (44). Dartmouth placed five runners in the top ten while Keene senior David Bridgewater followed up his win at last weekend's Jumbo Invitational with another individual victory, finishing in 25:30. The Jumbos rested most of their varsity runners and were led by junior Kyle Doran, who finished sixth overall in a time of 26:24.
"I thought Kyle ran well," coach Connie Putnam said. "Particularly when Kyle didn't have the rest of the [varsity] gang with him and had to go alone out front for one of the first times. And particularly when you consider that he ran the tougher varsity workout on Tuesday, unlike the rest of the guys who raced on Saturday."
Doran's housemates, juniors Neil Orfield and Mike Cummings, finished 21st and 23rd overall. Orfield completed the course in 27:52 and Cummings was just a second behind him at 27:53. Other than the three juniors, Tufts ran a young squad on Saturday. Sophomore Peter Orth finished in 24th place in 27:56 and freshman David Bach ran a 28:07, good for 26th overall. Sophomore Dan Sullivan (28:14) and freshman Dave Sorenson (28:21) finished 27th and 29th overall, respectively.
"Considering the teams involved and the guys we sat out and the young guys that ran, I thought third was pretty good," Putnam said. "I think our varsity guys would have been a good match for Keene."
Putnam will get to see just who his varsity guys are a good match for on Friday, when the Jumbos race in the All-New England Championship at Franklin Park at 1 p.m.
Senior co-captains Nate Brigham and Brian MacNamara, fifth-year senior Peter Bromka, junior Matt Lacey, sophomores Josh Kennedy and Justin Chung all sat out of Saturday's race and will run on Friday. Freshman Chris Kantos also rested this weekend, and either he or Doran will run at Franklin.
"I haven't decided yet if the seventh guy will be Kyle or Chris," Putnam said this weekend. "I'll have to do some serious thinking after Tuesday's workout. Whichever one doesn't run varsity will do a great job leading the JV guys."
The All-New England race is valuable to the Jumbos because it simulates the national championship race.
"Of the races we have to attend that are within reasonable distance and are natural
to our schedule, it's the one that most resembles a national race," Putnam said. "The more I look at it over the years the more I think that. There are a lot of teams running and the D-I teams that run simulate the D-III National caliber teams, so in terms of pace and depth, it's a good test."
Last year the Jumbos finished ninth out of 47 teams at the race, and first out of Div. III teams. Putnam is optimistic as his top runners have looked sharp lately, between their win at the home invitational and recent practices.
"We had a great week," Putnam said. "I have the varsity guys in the two week cycle. We had a very strong workout on Tuesday and a great tempo run on Friday. I think things are going well."
