They came. They ran. They conquered.
For the most part, that was the story for the 2004 men's cross country team. Coming off a stellar 2003 season in which Tufts won the ECAC Championship, the NESCAC Championship, and the New England Championship - the second two for the first time ever - before finishing 11th at Nationals, this year's team did even better.
The Jumbos captured ECACs, NESCACs, and New Englands again this fall and went on to Nationals, where they fell short of their top-four goal - but still set a new Tufts standard with a sixth place finish.
"We did everything we wanted to do all season," junior Matt Lacey said. "We just came up a little short at Nationals."
"Anytime you can win as many races as we did, that's pretty darn good," senior co-captain Brian McNamara added. "Placing sixth in the nation is a pretty big accomplishment."
Throughout most of the season, Lacey, sophomore Josh Kennedy, and senior co-captain Nate Brigham led the way for Tufts, with McNamara, fifth-year senior Peter Bromka, and junior Matt Fortin also racking up solid performances. At the Jumbo Invitational, which Tufts won for the first time since 2001, Brigham (second), Lacey (third), Kennedy (fourth), McNamara (sixth), and Fortin (seventh), blew away the field, combining for a mere 22 points.
At NESCACs, the Jumbos put on a similar performance, with Lacey finishing fourth overall and Kennedy, McNamara, and Brigham finishing seventh through ninth, respectively. At ECACs, the second seven came up clutch with the victory, thanks to sophomore Justin Chung, whom the squad will look to as a varsity runner next year, senior Mike Don, who had the first half of his season wiped out by mononucleosis, and a surprise race from sophomore Chad Uy.
After that, all the Jumbos had to do to capture a second consecutive Triple Crown was win regionals. They did just that, with all five runners finishing in the top twenty at Southern Maine to send Tufts to Nationals.
"It was great to hear them introduce our team before the race at Nationals as the 'NESCAC conference champions, the New England Regional champions, as well as the ECAC conference champions,'" Lacey said.
While that was one of Lacey's favorite memories of the season, McNamara remembered the "Crazies," about 30 fellow Jumbos who didn't run but drove up to Maine and out to Wisconsin, decked in body paint, to support their teammates.
"They were awesome as always," Brigham said after Nationals.
Brigham and McNamara, along with Bromka, leave the program after a stretch that includes back-to-back Triple Crowns, three team appearances at Nationals, and Brigham's 11th place finish nationally his sophomore year.
"I came in freshman year hoping to run varsity all four years and run well at Nationals," McNamara said. "But I don't know if I ever thought we'd win NESCACs or regionals because Tufts had never won and other teams like Bates and Williams were so good. But after Nate's and my freshman year, and then when guys like Lacey and [junior Kyle] Doran came in the next year we thought maybe we had a chance and we've just been working really hard for two years now at those goals and it paid off."
"We haven't really been hit hard by graduation in awhile," Lacey said. "It's part of the whole process. It will be hard to replace the guys we're losing. They've been contributing for four years now. But we've got to bank on some people stepping up big time."
The Jumbos will return Kennedy, who earned All-American status at Nationals, Fortin, Lacey, and freshman Chris Kantos, who filled in for Doran when he went out with an injury at the end of the season. They will also get back Doran's services, and they hope for a return to top form by junior Neil Orfield, who ran in Nationals last year.
"The obvious goal for next year is to improve on our Nationals finish from this year as well as complete another triple crown, so we can have a 'triple triple crown,'" Lacey said. "Everyone will be dedicated, because this year it was easy to lose focus in some cases because you knew there were others who could pick up your slack, but it won't be like that next year, and people understand that."
